Stimulus Checks Won’t Reach Citizens for at Least ’12 Days’ Due to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ Absence

Millions of Americans continue to desperately hold to hope for a new stimulus check plan to gain approval, it is now possible that payments won’t even be sent out for at least 12 days according to a new report. The delay is due to Trump Administration Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ week-long absence from the White House. According to The Sun, even if a new coronavirus relief package does get finalized, it likely won’t be until next week.

Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had been engaged in bill negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They are the top two Democratic Party leaders in the United States. After a week of discussions, talks reached a stall, and both sides walked away. Meadows and Mnuchin then recommended that President Trump sign executive orders on a few crucial issues, such as federal unemployment benefits extension, eviction moratorium, and student loans.

Pelosi stated the situation, saying: “When you’re having an opportunity like this to do something for the American people, it’s an opportunity, but we can’t have it be a missed opportunity to do that by settling for something so low, so beneath meeting the needs of the American people.”

Schumer also commented: “The House doesn’t have the votes to go south of $2 trillion; the Senate Democrats can’t go south of $2 trillion, so that’s what compromise is all about. Because there are 20 Republicans who don’t want to vote anything that doesn’t mean the whole thing should shift in their direction. You have to meet in the middle.” Notably, Mnuchin has said that the White House is open to resuming negotiations.

As far as a timeline on when the checks would be sent out after a bill of officially signed into law, Mnuchin was quoted as saying he “could have them out immediately,” on Aug. 2. However, added that if he could “get it passed tomorrow, I could start printing them the following week. […] I could get out 50 million payments really quickly.”

Notably, if a bill could be passed this week, then — based on Mnuchin’s estimate — checks could start going out before the end of next week. With Meadows out of the office, though, and negotiations not able to resume during that period, it is possible it may very well be September before citizens get their relief payments.