Stimulus package vote today: $600 second check, $300 unemployment insurance

After months of ping-ponging negotiations, Republicans and Democrats closed a deal on the final bipartisan coronavirus relief deal of 2020. The House of Representatives will bring it to a vote Sunday on a $900 billion stimulus package that includes a second stimulus check of $600 and $300 in weekly unemployment insurance for out-of-work Americans.

The House will convene at 12 p.m. ET to begin its session for the day. It isn’t yet clear what time voting on the stimulus bill would occur.

“Members are advised that votes are expected in the House today related to government funding and further coronavirus relief legislation,” said a scheduling memo Sunday morning from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. “Further information regarding the exact timing of votes will be provided as soon as it becomes available.  Members are further advised that votes could occur late into the evening.”

The coronavirus relief package is set to renew critical expiring federal benefits at a time when the nation is seeing surging infections, hospitalizations and “horrific” deaths as a result of COVID-19. Federal inaction is projected to leave tens of millions of unemployed Americans without an income and expose millions of households facing eviction. 

However, certain language and agreements still aren’t finalized, according to The Washington Post, including details on evictions. The finished bill text has also not been presented.

“This gets done today. No more delays. We’re not leaving until we have relief for the American people,” Republican Sen. John Barasso said on Fox News Sunday.

The second stimulus check is intended to go to the same recipients of the first stimulus check this year, Barasso said. However, certain exceptions to qualifications in a second stimulus check may remain and changes to rules about dependents and how much money they represent to the total household sum will also impact the final stimulus check sent to families.

While Barasso stressed that adults and “children” would count toward a second stimulus check, others have suggested that dependents of any age will be able to receive $600 apiece. The change to the definition of a dependent in a second stimulus check would potentially extend the payment to as many as 15 million additional people. That would potentially bring an extra $600 apiece for their respective households, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. However, a $600 cap for adults would lower the total size of a second stimulus check for tens of millions of families.

It isn’t clear if the Senate would vote on Sunday immediately after the COVID-19 stimulus bill were to pass the House. Much could depend on the time of day voting would end in the House.

Read more: Want a third stimulus bill? America’s next Congress could hold the key

When could a stimulus bill or package pass?

House votes	Senate votes	President signs
Dec. 20	Dec. 20	Dec. 21
Dec. 20	Dec. 21	Dec. 21 (Trump signs same day)
Dec. 20	Dec. 22	Dec. 23

A broader package, like the $2.2 trillion CARES Act from March, is more likely to return to the table in early 2021, top US leaders have implied. It’s too soon to tell if that sweeping package would seek a third stimulus check for $600 or $1,200.

“We’re not leaving here without a COVID package. It’s not gonna happen. We’re gonna stay here until we get a COVID package,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Dec. 15. “No matter how long it takes, we’ll be here.”

Why isn’t a $1,200 second stimulus check part of the bill?

A second stimulus check has had wide bipartisan support ever since the CARES Act passed. Over the last several months, everyone from President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden to members of Congress, economists and everyday people have advocated for another direct payment.

Last week, Trump called for “more money than they’re talking about” in stimulus checks, as large as $1,200 or $2,000 per person. Aides reportedly convinced him that making such demands would jeopardize a stimulus bill, The Washington Post reported.

Although many favor a $1,200 direct payment in theory, a second smaller stimulus check is seen as one way to keep costs below the $1 trillion cutoff that Republican lawmakers have in the past said they’d support. 

Stimulus checks aren’t cheap. The IRS said this summer that it had spent $270 billion sending out 160 million checks, and on Monday, Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican who has been involved in crafting the bipartisan stimulus proposal, forecast a cost of $300 billion if the checks were once again included for $1,200 per person. Republicans reportedly bridled at the cost.

A variety of factors could have contributed to a second stimulus check making its way into the final bill at all, from popular opinion and presidential preference to that complicated bipartisan rejiggering mentioned above that freed up $160 billion, enough for a smaller stimulus check than before. 

Where did the $900 billion stimulus package come from?

The $900 billion stimulus proposal is the latest variation of a $908 billion proposal from Dec. 1 that by Monday was split into two parts. The first is a core bill worth $748 billion, which contains the unemployment funding and other measures. The second is a $160 billion bill that carves off the two most contentious issues that could capsize an agreement: money for state, local and tribal funding on one hand; and a liability shield to protect businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits on the other.

Neither lobe of the two-part stimulus deal contained a second stimulus check, but with the thorniest issues sloughed off, the key Democratic and Republican negotiators are seizing the monetary wiggle room to fund the popular stimulus check at a reduced rate. 

How soon could stimulus package aid go out?

First, the stimulus bill would need to pass the House and Senate. If both chambers are working together on a deal now, there’s a good chance that would happen. Next, Trump would need to sign the rescue bill into law. After that, aid would likely begin to go out within weeks, with certain groups possibly receiving financial help before the end of 2020.

If a bill does pass that includes a direct payment, here’s how quickly we think the IRS could send a second stimulus check.

Will there be yet another stimulus bill in 2021?

Biden, McConnell and others have repeatedly described this December legislation as emergency relief instead of a sweeping economic stimulus package, and have committed to another stimulus bill in 2021.

“It’s a down payment,” Biden said Dec. 16. “An important down payment on what’s going to have to be done at the end of January and into February. But it’s very important to get done.”

Here’s everything we know right now about the chances of a third stimulus check in 2021.

For more information about stimulus checks, here’s how soon you might get your second stimulus check now, what you should do to speed up the delivery of a potential second check, and what to know about the HEALS, CARES and Heroes stimulus bill proposals that could help inform a final package.