Covid-19 Stimulus Relief: $600 Checks to Come as Late Christmas Gift

The $900 billion in pandemic relief that passed the House and Senate late Monday is aimed squarely at shoring up the U.S. economic recovery into the early spring as battered industries and workers face months of continuing struggle.

The funds were combined with $1.4 trillion to fund regular government operations for the rest of the fiscal year, in massive legislation that runs 5,593 pages. It includes other tax, energy and national-security provisions that lawmakers agreed to pass before the end of the year.

The pandemic relief package includes help for small businesses and the jobless along with direct payments to most Americans. It also provides funding for vaccine distribution, food assistance, tax breaks and money for education and child care.

The provisions aimed at the fallout from the coronavirus represent the second-largest economic rescue package in American history, behind the $1.8 trillion virus relief package that was signed into law just nine months ago. It surpasses the $787 billion stimulus passed in response to the financial crisis in 2009.

Together with the omnibus spending bill, the total package is worth more than $2.3 trillion. The legislation also included a number of tax benefits, some unrelated to the Covid-19 crisis.

The bill provides $600 in one-time direct payments to individuals and $600 per child. The payments get phased out for individuals making more than $75,000 or couples making $150,000. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Internal Revenue Service would begin processing payments as soon as next week. The IRS already had set up a system to distribute $1,200 payments in the stimulus bill passed in March.

Several senators, including Missouri Republican Josh Hawley and Vermont Progressive Bernie Sanders, said they wanted larger stimulus payments, but they agreed not to object to a final deal with the smaller amount. Progressive Democrats in the House have started calling these “survival checks.”

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