After hearing that Senate Democrats could limit who can receive the $ 1,400 stimulus included in the American Rescue Plan, Marissa Ortega’s heart dropped.
The 25-year-old Washington DC resident planned to use the money to rebuild her savings account after supporting her mother, grandmother and aunt for the past year. Ortega makes a lot of money as a software engineer and has not lost his job during the pandemic. But he has had to send thousands of dollars to members of his family (the three women, who raised Ortega, live in the same Texas home) to help them with their own Covid-related financial problems.
She is one of many Americans frustrated that the Senate can change the income limits by paying $ 1,400 incentives. In the bill passed by the House, direct payments are completely eliminated for people who earn $ 100,000 or more in adjusted gross income (AGI) per year, $ 120,000 for single parents and $ 200,000 for the couples (who would get $ 2,800). According to reports, the Senate changes the limit so that no person earning more than $ 80,000 and no couple earning more than $ 160,000 will receive any.
The result: An estimated 12 million fewer adults and 4.6 million fewer children would be eligible for the third stimulus payment. And it is estimated that $ 12 billion cleared the $ 1.9 trillion relief bill.
The lower income limit for receiving the total amount (up to $ 75,000 for individuals, $ 112,500 for single parents, and $ 150,000 for couples) remains the same. This is the second time Democrats have debated lowering income thresholds for the third direct payment. Ortega says it would be a mistake.
“It may not seem like people with higher incomes are hurting, but there’s a ton that income doesn’t tell you,” Ortega says. “I know I’m not the only one who has added expenses to the pandemic.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the changes at a news conference Thursday, saying 98% of Americans who received the second stimulus payment will still qualify for the third, a statement backed by estimates of the Penn-Wharton budget model. He also said the $ 1,400 check will clean up many families significantly more money than the $ 600 payments. Of course, this last point would be maintained if the income limits remained the same.
Still, Ortega says it looks like President Joe Biden is disowning his promise to send $ 2,000 checks to financially distressed Americans.
“Now it’s not $ 2,000 anymore, it’s $ 1,400,” he says. “And now they change the limit, they change who gets it. Is it the same control? Obviously not.”
“A Slap”
Heather Jackson, 42, has also not lost income during the pandemic and will still be eligible for payment, but says the limits are arbitrary and hurt families like her. Jackson has seven children and cares for other parents just above income thresholds.
The Indiana resident says the costs of caring for children have increased for many families during the pandemic, as have the costs of basic goods. It doesn’t make sense for a couple without children and a $ 150,000 income to receive $ 2,800, while a couple with dependents earning just over $ 160,000 gets nothing, according to her.
Anyone with children who meet the income eligibility requirements will receive $ 1,400 for each dependent child, as well as for each dependent adult.
Rosemarie McKinney, 52, says the change is similar to a “slap” for middle-class Americans who don’t meet the requirements for other public aid, such as SNAP benefits, but have had to endure the costs of food and other essentials during the pandemic.
“I certainly don’t want to be resentful of people with few means,” says McKinney, who lives in New York State. “But limiting the threshold of people who would be eligible for this stimulus is ridiculous with all the barrel spending [toward] “special projects” “
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