A STIMULUS bill with $1,400 checks could be passed this week, but fewer Americans may get them after Joe Biden reportedly agreed to a limit.
This morning, the president agreed that stimulus checks would be capped to those making under $80,000 a year, MarketWatch reported.
Joint filers will also be cut off at $160,000, according to reports.
The caps were previously $100,000 and $200,000 respectively.
The Senate could pass the bill this week as they are set to debate today, according to Democrat Chuck Schumer.
The Senate majority leader said that he is confident that he has enough votes to pass the $1.9trillion Covid relief bill.
"We want to get the biggest, strongest, boldest bill that can pass. And that’s what we are working to do," Schumer said during a press conference on Tuesday.
"We’ll have the votes we need to pass the bill."
Schumer will need 50 Democrats to vote on the bill, assuming that all 50 Republicans go against it.
If the Senate tied evenly, then Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the final tie-breaker.
Senate Minority Leader, and Republican, Mitch McConnell, has hit out at the relief bill.
"This is a wildly expensive proposal largely unrelated to the problem," he said.
"We think this package should have been negotiated on a bipartisan basis. … Instead, the new administration made a conscious decision to jam us."
Schumer indicated that the bill could be voted on on Wednesday, which means a vote could be seen by the end of the week, Fox 23 reported.
Democrats were hoping to pass the legislation by March 14 – when emergency unemployment benefits expire for millions.
A stimulus check calculator is allowing individuals to consider how much of the proposed $1,400 third stimulus check they could qualify for.
The calculator, featured on CNET, requires people to simply put in their filing status, adjusted gross income (AGI), and how many qualified dependents there were on their 2019 or 2020 tax forms.
Currently, an individual taxpayer making less than $75,000 based on AGI will receive the full amount, while an individual with an AGI over $100,000 will not be eligible.
A sliding scale will also provide a percentage of that $1,400 to individual taxpayers making between $75,000 and $100,000.
The same system will be applied to a head of household (the full amount under $112,500; not eligible over $150,000) and a married couple filing jointly (the full amount under $150,000; not eligible over $200,000).
People with dependents would also see the size of the checks they receive based on the number of people they care for.
For example, a head of household with one dependent would receive $2,800, while a married couple with two dependents would receive $5,600.
The biggest sticking point for the bill, some experts say, is a provision added by the House that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025.
The Senate bill is unlikely to include the increase.
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