The senate passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill this past weekend. The bill was passed with no Republican support and is now a step closer to be distributed to American families.
The bill is now in motion to return back to the House on Tuesday where it will be voted on to approve changes made by the Senate. Once the House votes and approves those changes, the more than 600 page bill will finally hit Biden’s desk for signing.
Biden called the aid package “urgently needed” and was grateful that the Senate passed it so quickly saying it will get “checks out the door” to Americans later this month.
“The resources in this plan will be used to speed up manufacturing and distribution of the vaccines, so that we can get every American vaccinated sooner rather than later,” Biden said.
These payments will be the third round of stimulus checks to be distributed to Americans, since the pandemic started a year ago. The previous payments that were distributed in December, were worth up to $600.
According to CNN, individuals earning less than $75,000 and couples earning less than $150,000 would receive the full $1,400 payment, plus an additional check per dependent. But the third round of checks would phase out faster than earlier payments — completely cutting off individuals who earn more than $80,000 a year and married couples earning more than $160,000, regardless of how many children they have.
The last two rounds of relief payments required students to be a taxpayer who is not a dependent on someone else’s tax return. Under the latest program, additional payments could go to all dependents, not just children 16 and younger. Naturally, this leaves students like freshman bio-pre-med student, Kianah Nelson with some relief.
“I believe it was unfair that some received the first stimulus packages and some did not,” Nelson said. “I also feel that more people may have recovered it if we knew that we had to be an independent to receive the stimulus check. I personally didn’t receive the stimulus and regret filing as an independent.”
According to the IRS, a student may also be eligible for past payments by claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2020 tax returns with Form 1040, or 1040-SR.
IRS Commissioner, Chuck Rettig, expressed in a statement, “college students should be careful not to overlook the stimulus payments if they are supporting themselves.”
The COVID relief bill payments should be distributed shortly after Biden signs off on the legislation.
To learn more about the COVID relief bill, visit irs.gov.