A WHITE House adviser said on Tuesday government officials are “studying” the possibility of sending more $1,200 stimulus checks amid the coronavirus outbreak. Economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters: “I think that’s something that we are studying very carefully, that I know that people in the House are as well.” The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) […]
A WHITE House adviser said on Tuesday government officials are “studying” the possibility of sending more $1,200 stimulus checks amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters: “I think that’s something that we are studying very carefully, that I know that people in the House are as well.”
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has sent out around 88 million stimulus checks to Americans which were part of the $2.2trillion economic relief package passed by Congress in March.
Hassett suggested another stimulus package was in the works, and said he expects “that it’s very likely there will be a ‘phase four’ deal.”
“We’re going to be speaking with the president throughout the week about what he thinks should be in there.”
The White House official added: “[Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell and [House] Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi are working on that as well, so I think the odds that there won’t be one more round of legislation is pretty low.”
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump said another economic package was being worked on between his administration and Congress.
“We could very well do a second round [of stimulus checks],” Trump said at the time. “It is absolutely under serious consideration.”
House Democrats reportedly don’t think the current amount of $1,200 is enough to combat mass unemployment.
Representatives Tim Ryan, from Ohio, and Ro Khanna, of California, proposed another bill called the Emergency Money For the People Act as COVID-19 continues to pummel the US economy.
This bill expands who is eligible, how much checks amount to, and how people will pocket the payment.
It would continue until national employment levels return to what they were pre-pandemic.
And Ryan said support for the proposal is increasing, as he tweeted on Monday: “Currently building momentum in the House to include in the next package.”
As 22 million people file for unemployment, Americans aged 16+ who make less than $130,000 a year will are set to receive $2,000 a month through this plan.
On Friday, Trump signed a $484billion to help employers and hospitals under stress from the pandemic.
Trump thanked Congress for “answering my call” to provide the critical assistance and said it was “a tremendous victory.”
The president said most of the funding in the bill would flow to small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides money to small businesses to keep workers on their payroll.
Since the outbreak hit the US, roughly 26 million Americans have filed for jobless aid — or about one in every six workers.
Businesses have shut down and employees have stayed home as governors and officials throughout the country have asked residents to stay home to prevent spreading the virus.
As of Tuesday, more than one million cases of the virus were confirmed in the US, with nearly 58,000 deaths.
