Second Stimulus Check: Possible Payment Dates Based on Current Deadlines

Congress may have adjourned for the weekend, but the notion of a second stimulus check remains a priority, despite the lack of progress. As people grow increasingly anxious over when this payment will eventually arrive, the deadline in Congress could indicate when this second payment will arrive, at least based on how it went down with the CARES Act.

While Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that they are “working around the clock to see if we can reach an agreement” on a new stimulus package, there still isn’t a timetable on when the checks will be rolled out. However, CNET looked back at the timetable behind the CARES Act to get an idea. While the Senate passed the CARES Act on March 25, then the House the 26 and signed into law by President Donald Trump on the following day, checks started to hit bank accounts and mailboxes starting April 15. So, assuming something is passed by Congress on or before Aug. 7, it could mean payments would roll out by the end of August or early September.

This possible timeline was reinforced by Sen. Chuck Grassley, who indicated the stimulus checks in the HEALS Act would be modeled after the CARES Act. “The Republican plan provides for another round of $1,200 of economic impact payments for most American adults,” Grassley said. “We are going to continue the economic impact payments that were made in April and May.”

Following the template of the CARES Act would likely mean the IRS would once again be in charge of sending out the payments. While it didn’t exactly go great the first time around, the agency already has the infrastructure in place to smooth out the second round, including the Get My Payment tool.

At this point, this is all dependent on White House and Congressional negotiators agreeing on the final bill before Aug. 7. Which is the date that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set as a deadline for a deal, but it’s also when the current Congressional session ends. In the meantime, some Senators have begun talking about the possibility of pushing back the start of their scheduled August break, including Sen. Dick Durbin. “There is no point to considering going home at the end of next week unless we have solved this problem,” he said on Thursday.