Stimulus checks: Mnuchin announces when Americans will get second payment

$600 direct payments could be issued as soon as next week, Treasury Secretary says

Millions of Americans could receive $600 in direct payments before the end of 2020 following the passage of a $900bn relief package eight months into the coronavirus crisis and its economic fallout.

Hours before a midnight deadline averting a government shutdown, after several frustrating weeks of debate, leaders in Congress agreed to legislation that includes $600 in direct payments for most Americans, along with $300 in weekly federal unemployment aid, an extension of a moratorium on evictions and $25bn in rental assistance, $284bn for businesses, and $20bn for local Covid-19 vaccine distribution, among other provisions.

Members of Congress had agreed to some form of direct payments to Americans following a one-time payment from April that put $1,200 into millions of Americans’ bank accounts. But Republicans rejected efforts to do the same, eight months later, despite a worsening pandemic and more than 20 million people out of work.

Following an 11th-hour agreement on the scope of the relief package on Sunday night ahead of a potential government shutdown, the text of the legislation has not been released.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC on Monday that Americans could expect to begin receiving payments before the start of 2021.

He said payments could be sent out as early as next week.

Individuals, including children, will receive $600 in the form of a direct payment from the US government into bank accounts. A family of four could receive $2,400 total.

Those payments would apply only to people who earned $75,000 or less based on earnings from the 2019 tax year, not in 2020. People who earned $99,000 or more that year would not be eligible for payments.

“People are going to see this money the beginning of next week,” Secretary Mnuchin said on CNBC. "So it's very fast. It's money that gets recirculated in the economy, so people go out and spend this money and that helps small business. That helps getting more people back to work."

Unemployment insurance payments will extend up to 11 weeks of “enhanced” federal relief, beginning as soon as 27 December, according to lawmakers.