- By way of a new stimulus check update, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the goal is for House committee votes to be completed this week on President Biden’s “American Rescue Plan” — his expansive economic package that includes funding for a third round of stimulus checks.
- The House committee votes this week would proceed full passage of the “American Rescue Plan” next week.
- As a result, the optimistic forecast of when new stimulus checks would start to be distributed, following a full approval by Congress, is sometime before the end of the first quarter.
Two new Democratic Senators from Georgia were elected earlier this month largely on the promise that they’d help speed along the passage of more coronavirus stimulus checks. Same for Joe Biden, whose campaign promises included a pledge to get to work immediately on an economic rescue package that includes funding for a third wave of stimulus checks if he won the White House. Now, Congress appears set to begin work this week on the legislative prerequisites for passage of those new direct coronavirus-related payments, with the latest stimulus check update we have being that, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the first House committee votes are expected this week.
That would be ahead of the full House being “completely ready” to clear Biden’s economic rescue package next week, according to Pelosi.
Biden’s $1.9 trillion agenda called the “American Rescue Plan” will no doubt speed briskly toward full passage in the House, where Democrats enjoy a clear majority, compared to the near-even split between the two parties in the Senate. There, only the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris is what gives Democrats the slimmest of edges, which is one reason why, according to CBS News, experts like Heights Securities analyst Hunter Hammond think the Biden plan will ultimately be trimmed a bit, down to $1 billion to $1.5 billion in order to secure its passage.
Even so, that whittling down isn’t likely to impact the $1,400 stimulus checks that are central to Biden’s plan, with the direct payments having broad bipartisan support. Some experts and news outlets have even called for recurring stimulus checks until the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses are still shedding jobs, with each passing day and week underscoring how urgently a new round of stimulus checks is needed.
One wildcard to be aware of: The second impeachment trial of President Trump is about to get underway in a matter of days in the Senate. And while the trial is only expected to last a few days or so, it’s nevertheless an obstacle of sorts that needs to be cleared so that the Senate can focus fully on other business. Nevertheless, Hammond puts the current odds at 85% that the Biden economic plan which includes stimulus checks will be passed by Congress and ready to be enacted by the end of March. Meaning the rollout of a third wave of stimulus checks could conceivably begin by the end of the first quarter.
