Stimulus Check: Will We See a Second Payment Before Election Day?

Americans are waiting to see if another round of stimulus checks will be approved, and many are wondering if we will see a second payment before Election Day. While there is no concrete evidence on whether or not that will happen, it is entirely possible. While no compromise on the price tag of the next stimulus package has been reached, politicians from both the Republican and Democrat parties have expressed a desire to get more financial relief to U.S. citizens.

According to ABC News affiliate ABC 27, President Donald Trump recently encouraged his fellow GOP leaders to be willing to bump up the amount of funding they are willing to agree to. When asked about this during a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany explained, “What the president was referring to was the $500 billion bill that passed the Senate. It didn’t include direct payments. He wants more than the $500 billion and he’s very keen to see these direct stimulus payments.” Notably, this actually puts Trump’s position very close to the one held by Democrat leaders, who voted down the skinny GOP bill specifically because they felt that it was not financially sufficient enough to meet the needs of Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When it comes to the logistics of getting the payments out, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was previously quoted as saying, “I could have them out immediately,” after being asked how soon he could have the IRS send out payment. “If I could get it passed tomorrow, I could start printing them the following week,” Mnuchin added. “I could get out 50 million payments really quickly.” Hypothetically speaking: If a bill had been approved this week, then that means Mnuchin could have had the IRS sending checks next week, based on his own explanation of the timeline from bill approval to payments sent.

Ultimately, the hold up on another bill seems to keep coming back to the fact that the two parties cannot agree on a price tag. Democrats initially wanted a $3 trillion bill, but Republicans felt this was too costly. They, in turn, proposed a $1 trillion bill. Democrat leaders have said that they are willing to come down to $2 trillion, but have claimed that their GOP peers have not been willing to come up to that number. At this time, there is no word on when bill negotiations may resume.