Clyburn: $1,400 checks could go out ‘beginning of next week’

'We want to get this bill to the president for his signature before the end of the week.'

Mar 9, 2021

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said he is “very hopeful” that Americans could receive the $1,400 direct payments in President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package by next week.

In an interview with MSNBC’s Kristen Welker, Clyburn said the House is expected to vote on the package on Wednesday, paving the way for checks to go out beginning of next week, The Hill reports.

“We want to get this bill to the president for his signature before the end of the week,” said Clyburn. “I’m very hopeful that by the beginning of next week, some relief can be realized. As you know, there’s a process that we have to go through. The president can’t just toss the money out once he signs the bill.”

He added, “That’s my thought. I used to run a state agency. I know what it’s like being an administrator.” Clyburn also noted that “we’ll be at the mercy of the administrative process.”

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) / Getty

TheGRIO previously reported, the Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill Saturday. The bill provides direct payments of up to $1,400 for most Americans, extended emergency unemployment benefits, and vast piles of spending for COVID-19 vaccines and testing, states and cities, schools and ailing industries, along with tax breaks to help lower-earning people, families with children and consumers buying health insurance.

The bill also provides $400 weekly benefits through August. The current $300 per week payments expire March 14, and Democrats want the bill on Biden’s desk by then to avert a lapse.

“This plan will get checks out the door starting this month to the Americans that so desperately need the help,” Biden said on Saturday.

Per The Associated Press, anyone earning up to $75,000 qualifies for the full $1,400 with the payment being cut off entirely at $80,000. Couples earning up to $150,000 also receive checks with the payments disappearing at an income of $160,000. Most households that received a COVID-19 relief check in December will qualify for the next round of payments, according to the report.

During a press conference Tuesday in Buffalo New York, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said checks will be issued “in about two weeks.”

“Middle-class Western New York households will be getting a $1,400 check in the mail in about two weeks,” Schumer said. “They should get them by the end of March, so it’ll be a nice Easter present for everybody.”

How much is in the next round of stimulus checks? (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Schumer noted that the money will help those greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. “These $1,400 checks, first and foremost, help people who need help,” he said.

“People need the money,” Schumer said. “There are so many people who have lost their jobs.”

The House is expected to pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill on Wednesday morning and the president will sign it into law within days.

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