When could you get a $1,400 stimulus check? Pelosi gives timetable for House vote

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that Democrats are planning a House vote by the end of February on President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

The House’s proposal would provide $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, $400 weekly unemployment benefits through Aug. 29 and increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025.

Democrats are hoping to pass the stimulus deal before March 14, the day that $300 weekly unemployment benefits approved in December’s coronavirus package expire. That timeline has added to lawmakers’ desire to use the reconciliation process, which allows for “expedited consideration” of legislation on spending, taxes and debt.

Reconciliation would also allow Democrats to bypass the 60-vote requirement for advancing the legislation without a filibuster. Instead, under the process, they could pass the deal with a simple majority — paving a path for the bill to become law without needing any Republican votes.

The Byrd rule, which is interpreted by the Senate parliamentarian, outlines that the reconciliation process can only be used for provisions related to the federal budget..

“There is communication with the Senate as to what the Byrd rule will allow in the bills as we go forward,” Pelosi said.

If the bill is signed into law by mid-March, CNET estimates that direct deposit checks could be sent out by the week of Mar. 22 and paper checks could be sent out the week of Mar. 29. Because the IRS is also processing tax returns, it could take longer to send stimulus checks depending on how quickly the IRS processes the money.

One of the main points of contention is whether a federal minimum wage hike could be included under the reconciliation process. Biden reportedly told a group of governors and mayors last week that he believes the minimum wage increase would not qualify under reconciliation and would instead need a full 60 votes, Politico reported.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, told The Hill on Tuesday that he doesn’t back a $15 minimum wage and is “supportive of basically having something that’s responsible and reasonable,” which he defined as an $11 minimum wage in his home state.

The U.S. Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats; Vice President Kamala Harris serves as the tiebreaker, giving Democrats a narrow majority in the chamber. In order for the bill to pass without unanimous Democratic support, at least one Republican would have to vote in favor.

The House Budget Committee plans to combine the bills drafted by different House panels into one huge plan on Monday, CNBC reported. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told lawmakers to be prepared to “work through next week” to advance the finalized bill.

The current proposal would provide full payments to individuals earning up to $75,000 a year and married couples earning up to $150,000 a year — the same income thresholds in Biden’s emergency plan released in January. The new plan has a faster phase-out than in previous proposals, capping payments at $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples.

Some Republicans have balked at the cost of the package and called for more “targeted” relief for families during the pandemic, while others have called the $1.9 trillion proposal “totally partisan.”

“Any further action should be smart and targeted, not just an imprecise deluge of borrowed money that would direct huge sums toward those who don’t need it,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.

Speaking about Democrats’ push to advance the bill through reconciliation, McConnell said: “We’re off to a totally partisan start. I think that’s unfortunate.”

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said in a conversation with White House officials that she suggested lowering the income cap for direct stimulus payments as a way to lower the bill’s price tag.

“I was the first to raise that issue, but there seemed to be a lot of agreement … that those payments need to be more targeted,” Collins said, according to Politico. “I would say that it was not clear to me how the administration came up with its $1.9 trillion figure for the package.”

But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNBC on Thursday that she wasn’t worried about the legislation going too far. .

“Inflation has been very low for over a decade, and you know it’s a risk, but it’s a risk that the Federal Reserve and others have tools to address,” she said. “The greater risk is of scarring the people, having this pandemic take a permanent lifelong toll on their lives and livelihoods.”

She added that “doing too little” has a higher price than “doing something big.”

“We think it’s very important to have a big package [that] addresses the pain this has caused — 15 million Americans behind on their rent, 24 million adults and 12 million children who don’t have enough to eat, small businesses failing,” Yellen told CNBC.