Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress seem to agree on one thing: sending a second round of stimulus checks to help taxpayers meet the economic challenge posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
But negotiations have stalled over a number of points that are also in the proposals that Democrats and Republicans have put forward for what will be the economic relief bill.
However, given the critical situation facing the country, social pressure will most likely force both sides to reach an agreement for further stimulus in the coming days.
Senate Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell gave hope that the impasse will soon be resolved by saying he hopes to support a coronavirus relief agreement when the Democrats and the Trump administration reach one.
Democrats and Republicans have called for a second round of $1,200 checks on their legislative proposals. Democrats, however, were more generous, asking to increase the payment of dependents to $1,200 each, instead of $500, and to limit that payment to three dependents per family.
Following the passage of the CARES Act on March 27, taxpayers began receiving their stimulus checks as early as the week of April 13. But for millions of Americans, including those in Social Security, those checks were delayed until they provided additional information.
For When?
The date that taxpayers will be paid depends largely on how quickly legislators agree to the other elements of the coronavirus support package.
White House officials have suggested that the distribution of the checks could be accelerated even further, given that the system is already in place, so it can be concluded that the checks will begin to reach many taxpayers as soon as two weeks after President Donald Trump signs the new stimulus package.
This is because it took the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about 13 business days to begin sending out the stimulus checks.
Since the IRS and the Treasury Department now have all the information they need, and presumably have learned from the first delivery, they could be issued a little faster.
This is all based on a bill passed by Congress and signed by Trump before the summer congressional recess that is due to begin next week.
That means they could start coming in late August, if Democrats, Republicans and the White House agree.