Are people in the US getting a monthly $2,000 stimulus payment during the outbreak?

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has sent out 128.3 million stimulus payments totalling $218.4 billion in a bid to help people in America cope with the coronavirus crisis' effect on the economy, with the loss of 20.5 million jobs leaving the country's unemployment rate at 14.7% - a level not seen in the US since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

With the pandemic continuing to hit the US population hard financially, White House reporters have asked Donald Trump if there will be a second round of stimulus checks - and the president has not ruled it out, telling one press briefing: “It is absolutely under consideration. We could very well do a second round of direct payments.”

Emergency Money for the People Act seeks $2,000 monthly payments

Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill in congress in mid-April that would give every qualifying American over the age of 16 a stimulus payment of up to $2,000 each month for up to a year, plus an extra $500 for families with up to three children.

If the Emergency Money for the People Act became law, the $2,000 monthly payments would be guaranteed for at least six months. They would then be renewed for another six months, unless the employment-to-population ratio for people ages 16 and older returns to the pre-coronavirus employment level of 60%. These payments would not count as income, so they would not affect your eligibility for any income-based federal or state government assistance programs.

Who would be eligible for this $2,000 payment?

Eligibility for the $2,000 monthly payments under the Emergency Money for the People Act would be much broader than for the current CARES Act stimulus payments. To qualify for the monthly payments under the bill, you would have to be:

"People in hell want ice water too"

While Democratics are convinced further checks are necessary, however, many Republicans remain less won over by the plan. Senator John Kennedy (R-La) said: "Well, people in hell want ice water too" when asked about the plans, while Steve Scalise reportedly called any strategy for monthly payments a “radical socialist” idea.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has said the focus should be on reopening the economy, not another round of checks. "The real stimulus that’s going to change the trajectory that we're on is going to be the economy, not government checks,” Graham said. “So I doubt there will be another payment.”

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