Second stimulus check: Mnuchin claims Trump backs 'another round' before 20 July
Speaking to CNBC, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed that Trump administration supports issuing another round of stimulus checks.
The CARES Act was signed into law on Friday, March 27, 2020. The very first stimulus checks were paid into people's bank accounts over the weekend of the 11 and 12 of April, giving a lag time of about two weeks for the first payments.
The first people to receive the stimulus payments, directly into their bank accounts, were taxpayers who had filed a 2019 or 2020 tax return.
10 of millions of Americans received their direct payment by April 15, that is two and a half weeks after the legislation was signed into law by President Trump.
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The fast majority of filers had received their payments directly in the first two weeks after the first payments, by the end of April.
Where the IRS do not have people's bank statement and have been receiving paper checks or prepaid debit cards the process has been far slower, with many millions still to receive their first stimulus payment in the middle of June. The IRS said they expected almost all stimulus payments to be made within 20 weeks.
Second round of checks
Speculation has been rife relating to a possible second round of impact payments from the government as the pandemic shows no sign of abating in the United States as new positive cases soar on a continual daily basis.
Speaking to CNBC, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed that Trump administration supports issuing another round of stimulus checks but admitted that he could not add further details.
“We do support another round of economic impact payments,” Mnuchin said. “We’re discussing the criteria with the Senate, and had a productive talk with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.”
Mnuchin added that the administration will work “on a bipartisan basis with Republicans and Democrats,” and said it is a “priority” to have legislation passed by July 20. The Treasure Secretary did admit that any future payment would be handled 'in a different way' with the initiative set to act as an incentive to get people back to work.