- The new stimulus check update many of you have been waiting for may finally be at hand.
- Senate Republicans gathered at the White House on Monday to meet with President Trump by way of getting started on the process of writing and passing a new coronavirus stimulus bill.
- The meeting today was about sketching out priorities for what will be included in a new stimulus bill.
On Monday, making good on the signals we’ve been writing about for a few weeks now, Congressional leaders gathered at the White House to sit down with President Trump and finally start the process of writing and passing a new coronavirus-related stimulus bill.
The meeting today was mostly about laying out the key items Republican leaders want to see in a new bill, legislative priorities like liability protections for businesses (presumably so employees can’t sue them for catching the coronavirus when they return to work) and opposition to an extended bump in unemployment insurance benefits. One thing missing — or, rather, one thing that wasn’t highlighted much at all in news accounts of the White House summit with Trump today — was details about new stimulus payments that have been expected to be part of any new stimulus bill.
As the coronavirus pandemic lingers, and dramatically worsens in states around the US like Florida and Texas, tens of millions of Americans have found themselves in dire financial straits. Along those lines, according to a new survey from SimplyWise, too many Americans still say that a second stimulus check is vitally needed.
The survey is SimplyWise’s July 2020 Retirement Confidence Index, which was conducted July 3-6 with participation from 1,128 Americans. Among its findings:
- 49% of Americans say another stimulus check is “very important” for their finances. And 65% of people who have been let go from their job or furloughed due to the coronavirus say it’s very important for their finances.
- 35% of Americans say they could last less than one month off their savings. Also, 48% of Black Americans and 43% of Hispanic Americans said they could survive less than a month on savings — vs. 33% of white Americans who said the same thing.
Even if lawmakers don’t include funding for another wave of stimulus checks in this next bill, however, there are still ways that Americans can benefit — indeed, ways that will actually put money in their pocket, all the same. For example, one of those is via a temporary payroll tax cut that President Trump said he’d like to see in the next bill. According to an estimate from Forbes, a payroll tax waiver could have the same impact as an immediate 7.65% pay raise for many people.
Even so, President Trump is already on record as promising that new stimulus checks are coming, and that he’d like them to be bigger than they were the last time around. With the leader of their party solidly behind the idea, it’s more likely than not that Senate Republicans will find an excuse to fall in line.
