- The latest stimulus check update from the Biden administration, which has proposed a new round of direct payments that includes $1,400 stimulus checks, is that he’s requiring the Treasury Dept. to send out stimulus checks faster to eligible recipients.
- Congress still needs to vote on and approve President Biden’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” which includes the new stimulus checks.
- Use the calculator below to estimate the size of your new stimulus check under the terms of this plan.
The Biden administration is still settling in after the presidential inauguration on Wednesday, but already it’s gearing up for what will be one of the most important legislative priorities of the first 100 days — passing an economic rescue package to help the battered economy recover from the shock of COVID-19. “The American people can’t afford to wait, and so many are hanging by a thread,” Brian Deese, Biden’s economic advisor, told news outlets in a briefing on Thursday. Meantime, those news outlets as well as millions of Americans are awaiting a stimulus check update, since President Biden has pledged that a third round of direct payments will be a major part of his ambitious economic agenda right out of the gate.
Along those same lines, President Biden planned a flurry of new measures Friday, including an order mandating that the Treasury Dept. get stimulus checks sent out much faster to eligible people who haven’t received them yet. And while the new round of stimulus checks he’s pushing for has not been approved yet by Congress, you can already make an educated guess about the size of your own forthcoming payment.
Forbes has prepared an easy-to-use stimulus calculator that asks you to plug in things like your income and tax-filing status in order to calculate your estimated payment. It’s available here.
Forbes explains that this calculator was built based on a few assumptions, like the new economic legislation that Congress passes with stimulus language in it mirroring the CASH Act, as well as Biden’s own announcement about his American Rescue Plan on January 14.
As things stand now, President Biden’s plan is for the new round of stimulus checks to act as a “top-up” for the second wave of stimulus checks the Trump administration approved in December, in order to bring them up to $2,000. Which is why, since most people recently got $600 from the Trump administration, Biden wants to now send out a stimulus check for $1,400 ($600 + $1,400 = $2,000).
Again, however, it’s important to remember that this plan is not final. Congress could approve Biden’s stimulus check legislation in its current form, as President Biden has proposed it, or alter it dramatically. However, there are signs of trouble ahead, with some Republican lawmakers reportedly balking at approving yet another massive stimulus package so soon after the last one from December, under President Trump.
