Second stimulus check: what is Kamala Harris' proposal of $2,000 a month?
Congress is set to debate the make-up of a second stimulus package next week following the initial Economic Impact Payments in April.
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.
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. The IRS expected almost all stimulus payments to be made within 20 weeks.
Second payment
Millions of Americans have been awaiting news of what the next stimulus package will look like. The answers to that question have been speculated on, with Republicans and Democrats speaking out during various interviews or presentations, hinting at when more help may be coming.
The latest word on timings from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that Monday 20 July will see the plans being laid out for agreement and the negotiations can, hopefully, reach a conclusion quickly.
Democrat Senator Kamala Harris proposed a “final pitch” for $2,000 a month second wave of stimulus check with the US Congress set to debate the new stimulus package next week.
Speaking to MSNBC, Harris stated: "Together, with Bernie Sanders and Ed Markey, I’m proposing that we have not just that one-time check of $1,200. Through the course of this pandemic and crisis, we need to give people $2,000 a month as recurrent payments, people below a certain income level, to help them and sustain them through these months of crisis so at the end of it, they can get back up on their feet instead of falling deep deep deep into the crevices of this crisis. And, it does not make any sense, to your point, when we have Republicans in Congress who are standing in the way of supporting working people who have recently lost their jobs, and have every intention of working when we can get through this crisis and they just need help from their government.”