- The IRS and Treasury Department have about a week left to send out a new stimulus check to millions of Americans before reaching the January 15 deadline mandated by the recent $900 COVID relief bill.
- Millions of residents of at least one state, though, might be about to receive a second $600 stimulus check.
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed a new state stimulus package that would provide $600 stimulus checks to millions of low-income California residents on top of the stimulus checks provided by the federal government.
One of the many embarrassing failures of the federal government over the past 12 months has been the plodding, unnecessarily delayed, and woefully lacking action taken around providing Americans whose lives have been wrecked by the coronavirus pandemic with a new stimulus check. An abysmally small check, that is, for only $600, which came out of the recently passed $900 COVID relief bill.
The IRS and Treasury have got about a week left to finish sending out these new stimulus payments, which is supposed to end on January 15. The stimulus checks are being sent out in the form of banking direct deposits, as well as paper checks and preloaded debit cards that are also being mailed out. Next up will be to see what the new Congress, working with the incoming Biden-Harris administration, decides to do about President-elect Joe Biden’s promise that he will make $2,000 stimulus checks a priority immediately upon taking office. Residents of at least one state, meanwhile, might be about to get more stimulus money very soon.
A budget proposal by California Gov. Gavin Newsom would provide $600 stimulus payments to millions of low-income residents of the state — about 4 million, in fact.
This stimulus proposal was announced on Wednesday and is meant for people who make less than $30,000 a year, including undocumented immigrants who file state taxes. “Through the Golden State Stimulus, Californians who have been impacted by this pandemic will get help to provide for their families and keep a roof over their heads,” Newsom said in a statement he released about the proposal.
As part of this same proposal, Newsom is calling for the extension of a ban on evictions.
Normally, California’s state legislature passes a budget in the summer. But the governor is asking state lawmakers to move early on items including the new stimulus proposal, partly because of the urgency of the situation facing the state. Unemployment in California, for example, hit 8.2% in November, driven in part by how hard the state is now being hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
To get an idea of the degree to which that’s the case, coronavirus cases in the state are surging so much that hospitals in the state are reportedly preparing to eventually have to ration care because of a scarcity of hospital staff and beds for patients. “Millions of working families are on the ropes, barely hanging on during this pandemic-induced recession,” Newsom said. “This additional $600 in rapid cash relief will put food on the table for millions of vulnerable Californians, help pay rent, and these funds will be a shot in the arm for our economy”
