Will There Be a Second Round of Stimulus Payments?
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What is the current bill in Congress proposing for a second round of stimulus payments?
Here's your money briefing for Tuesday, May 19th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. The $3 trillion stimulus package passed by the Democratic-led House last week faces tough odds in the Republican Senate. A chunk of the money would go toward helping Americans pay their bills, but the GOP feels those payments could actually slow down a recovery.
Yeah, that's part of the Republican concern, partly about these payments and partly about unemployment insurance that's larger than what people can get from working, is that they're really trying to tie additional aid to work, whether it's incentives for companies to keep paying people as they have reduced hours or hiring bonuses or something that sort of is related to work.
So what should you expect from a second round of stimulus payments, if anything? Coming up, Wall Street Journal reporter Richard Rubin will explain where negotiations stand on Capitol Hill.
Many Americans have already used up the $1,200 stimulus payment, and lawmakers are preparing a new round of checks. But an aid package passed by Democrats in the House last week is a long shot in the GOP-led Senate. Wall Street Journal tax reporter Richard Rubin joins us to explain why. So Richard, for Americans, a new round of payments could definitely come in handy. But what would it say about the health of the economy?
Well, and I think it's what it was about the health of the economy that's making it unclear whether there's going to be another round. If there's another round, that's really a signal from Congress that they think we're in for a much longer haul of recession and recovery here. sort of swoosh-shaped recovery that you hear people talking about as opposed to the quick bounce back V-shape where you kind of wouldn't need more payments because people are going to go back to work and have jobs and spend money and everything's going to kind of be more back to normal by the fall. So it's almost sort of an indicator of where the political mood is about the economy. And that's what you're seeing as Congress talks about whether to have more payments.
So Republicans in the Senate feel that more stimulus would not only paint a picture of a still ailing economy, but could in reality slow down a recovery?
Yeah, that's part of the Republican concern, partly about these payments and partly about unemployment insurance that's larger than what people can get from working, is that they're really trying to tie additional aid to... whether it's incentives for companies to keep paying people as they have reduced hours or hiring bonuses or something that sort of is related to work. And this policy, you know, has been money just going to people all over the place, regardless of whether they're working or not. And it's not that Republicans are necessarily opposed to another round of payments. They're not dead set against it. I wouldn't discount it may be happening, but it's certainly not the, you know, most popular thing right now among Republicans.
Why do Senate Republicans worry that more direct payments could slow the economic recovery?
Under the stimulus proposal that so far has been approved by Democrats, how would the dollars differ from the first round?
So that bill that passed the House last week would have $1,200 per adult again, but then it would have $1,200 per child as opposed to $500 per child. And it also allows those dependent payments to go for college students and adult dependents who were both sort of excluded from the first round of payments. Yeah. And so this next round would be in all maybe 400 and some billion as opposed to about 300 billion from the previous round. So that's a pretty significant jump in terms of the size of what we're talking about here.
Now, this proposed stimulus package is retroactive. What exactly does that mean?
Well, sort of. I mean, those changes to allow adult dependents and college students, those changes in eligibility would be retroactive. So there'd be additional payments that people would be eligible for if you're in those groups and didn't get it the first time around. And then the second round of payments would be prospective, would be going forward.
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
What is the current bill in Congress proposing for a second round of stimulus payments?
0:05–2:55
2
Why do Senate Republicans worry that more direct payments could slow the economic recovery?
2:55–4:15
3
How would the proposed second round of payments differ in amount and eligibility from the first $1,200 checks?
4:15–5:08
Speakers
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