Second Stimulus Checks: Could We See a Third Payment in August?

While Americans wait to see when they will get a second stimulus check — hoping it will be in August — the question has arisen lately is if citizens could see the third payment in the same month. Currently, negotiations on the next coronavirus relief package have hit a stalemate, but the chances of Americans getting a check soon are still pretty good. Newsweek quoted Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin saying: “I could have them out immediately,” on Aug. 2.

This detail was in response to reporters asking how long it would take to get the checks out. “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.” Based on that timeline prediction, Mnuchin would have had checks out this week, had a bill been agreed upon last week. If a bill is approved this week, then, theoretically, that means Mnuchin could have the IRS sending checks next week.

Now, if the second round of checks could go out that fast, does this mean a third-round could still go out this month? Again, based on the timeline offered by Mnuchin, the answer is: maybe, but probably not. While it is entirely possible that third checks could be approved, considering all that happened with the first round of checks, it’s most likely that the Treasury Department and the IRS would not want to undertake a double-portion of work.

Mnuchin, along with White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows, had been engaged in stimulus negotiations with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the nation’s two top Democrat leaders. The group was unable to agree, leading Meadows and Mnuchin to suggest that President Donald Trump sign executive orders on a few crucial issues such as rent, student loans, unemployment. “We agree with the Speaker this is not the first choice, but people have run out of the enhanced unemployment,” the pair told reporters on Friday.

Pelosi issued a statement on 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 added, “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.”