Trump signs relief bill
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By James McAfee/The Knox County News-Courier—
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump finally relented and signed the corona virus relief and federal spending measure on Sunday night that averted a government shutdown and will provide some much-needed relief for millions of unemployed Americans along with $600 stimulus checks to everyone.
If he hadn’t done so, it would have created chaos for many Americans, including delaying the distributuion of vaccines.
Earlier last week, he threatened to not sign the measure as he wanted to increae the stumulus checks from $600 to $2,000 and eliminate some foreign aid provisions. Democrats liked the idea of larger checks, but the Republicans didn’t.
When will you get a $600 check?
The bill gives a deadline of Jan. 15. If a payment isn’t sent by then, you’ll have to claim the amount owed to you as a “recovery rebate” credit on your 2020 federal income tax return, which will be due April 15.
If the IRS already has your bank account information—either from a recent tax payment that you made or from a tax refund it sent you—you can expect to get your second stimulus check faster. That’s because the IRS will be able to directly deposit the payment into your bank account. The IRS can also make a second stimulus payment to a Direct Express debit card account, a U.S. Debit Card account, or other Treasury-sponsored account. Otherwise, expect to get a paper check in the mail.
The bill, likely the only compromise that could get through a deeply divided Congress, passed with veto-proof majorities — 359-53 in the House and 92-6 in the Senate.
