The New York Post reports – The House rushed President Donald Trump a $2.2 trillion rescue package Friday, tossing a life preserver to a U.S. economy and health care system left flailing by the coronavirus pandemic.
CNBC shares details about who will get a check and how much Americans with a social security number should expect to receive from the government – Those payments are expected to be $1,200 for individuals, or $2,400 for those who are married and file income taxes jointly. It also includes $500 per child.
But you have to meet certain qualifications in order to be eligible for the money, based on your adjusted gross income in your latest tax returns. If you earn more than $75,000 as an individual, $112,500 as the head of household or $150,000 if you are married and filing jointly, the amount of those checks starts to get reduced.
Checks will be reduced by $5 for every $100 exceeding those thresholds. It completely phases out at $99,000 in income for individuals, $146,500 for head of household filers with one child and $198,000 for joint filers with no children.
However, you are still eligible for a check if you have no income or if you rely solely on non-taxable government benefit programs like Supplemental Security Income benefits, or SSI, from Social Security.
“That group of people who are getting Social Security, whether it’s for retirement or for disability, and don’t need to file, will still be able to get a stimulus check,” said Jack Smalligan, senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute, a non-partisan think tank.
That’s after new language was added to the bill to allow the Treasury Department to communicate with other agencies that provide federal benefits. So the government would not necessarily need those individuals to file tax returns in order to get the stimulus checks, Smalligan said.
Americans who live in other countries may also be eligible.
One requirement for receiving the payments is you need to have a valid Social Security number.
Some individuals are specifically excluded from receiving relief checks. That includes nonresident aliens, individuals whose deductions can go to another taxpayer, and estates or trusts.
If you didn’t yet file a 2019 return, the government will use your 2018 information if it has it. It also may use a 2019 Social Security benefit statement, or Form SSA-1099, or the Social Security Equivalent Benefit Statement, or Form RRB-1099.
More important, the money will not be counted as taxable income. It will be considered a credit, so you can deduct the sum against your future taxes.
The legislation calls for sending out the payments “as rapidly as possible.” Eligible individuals will receive the funds electronically if they previously authorized refunds to be delivered to them that way. Otherwise, they will be sent out via postal mail.
Trump said he would sign the measure immediately.
Members of the House of Representatives shouted down Rep. Thomas Massie as they passed the coronavirus stimulus bill — with one lawmaker bellowing “f–k you!” at the Kentucky Republican.
Was the Democrat lawmaker expressing his anger at the wrong party? After all, it’s the Democrat lawmakers who’ve been stalling the much-needed stimulus package that was supposed to be intended to help Americans and American businesses struggling from the effects of the coronavirus, after Republicans refused to include their radical wish list items.
WFB reports – On Wednesday morning, Pelosi brought the House’s pro forma session to a close in just two minutes. Although she told reporters Thursday that she expects the bill will pass the House “with strong bipartisan support,” a vote on the relief package is not expected until Friday morning to give members time to consider the 800-page proposal. Pelosi said Wednesday during a press gaggle that she would like to see “a good debate on the floor” before passage.
American businesses, meanwhile, are buckling. The latest unemployment claims, released Thursday, show 3.3 million Americans without a job, nearly five times the peak of the Great Recession. The Senate’s package contains trillions in relief for workers, families, and businesses—an emergency infusion for an economy on life support.
The furious House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, blasted Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for lying to the American people during her press conference, as she falsely attempted to blame Republicans for holding up the passage of the critical funding bill for out-of-work Americans and financially devastated businesses.
“A few minutes ago the Speaker stood at this podium and claimed that House Democrats did what she called a jujitsu to change the bill — that is an outright lie,” McCarthy told Americans who are desperately waiting for aid. “The fundamental portions of this bill has not changed since Sunday,” he said, adding, “The only few additions were the funding of things that had nothing to do with the Coronavirus.”
.@GOPLeader McCarthy: “The only few additions were funding of things that had nothing to do with the Coronavirus. Was that worth holding it up?”
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 26, 2020
Friday’s long-delayed passage will cap off a week in which Pelosi, unsatisfied with what she called Republicans’ “trickle-down” approach, played roadblock to the bailout process, killing an initial deal before proposing a bill stuffed with diversity handouts. The move did secure concessions, including oversight of $500 billion for bailouts that Democrats have labeled a “slush fund” for corporations. But it also likely cost precious days amid an economic and health crisis that grows exponentially worse by the minute.
As Senate negotiations floundered, Pelosi floated her own bill. The 1,400-page plan would have (among other proposals) mandated a “diversity report” from all corporations receiving a bailout, created nationwide early voting regimes, and poured millions of federal dollars into organizations clearly unrelated to the crisis, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Much of Pelosi’s woke pork did not make it into the Senate’s final version (although funding for the Kennedy center did). But the delay raised questions, including among Obama administration veterans, of how seriously Pelosi was taking the crisis. “Skimming [her bill], I was struck by: ‘What does all this shit have to do with anything?'” one told Politico.
But the week between the first introduction and when the relief package finally reaches President Donald Trump’s desk is precious time lost. Both businesses and hospitals are subject to what George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen has called the “speed premium”—the benefits of some action (in this case, an infusion of government cash) decline rapidly the longer they take to actually get there.
“What many people do not realize,” Cowen writes, “is that ‘the speed premium’ is vastly higher when a deadly virus is doubling in reach every five to seven days.” Because of the coronavirus’s exponential rate of spread, a week can mean the difference between one life lost and 1,000, between 300 jobs lost or 3 million.
Nobody wants to see American taxpayers straddled with an inconceivable new debt of $2.2 trillion, but the fact that the Democrats were using the aid bill to push a radical green agenda, same-day voter registration and a $25 million raise for the House should make every American sit up and pay attention to what is really happening behind the curtain in Washington D.C.
