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On Monday Senate Republicans rolled out their stimulus bill, which would send out another round of stimulus checks that are almost identical to the first round.
The proposal outlined by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would send a stimulus check worth as much as $1,200 for individuals or $2,400 for married couples, plus $500 for each qualifying child. That amount would decrease for adjusted gross income above $75,000 per individual or $150,000 per qualified couple. And the checks phase out for individuals earning above $99,000, head of household filers with one child above $146,500, and joint filers with no children at $198,000.
But there is one big change: This time $500 would be sent for each qualifying adult dependent. The first round of stimulus checks did not include adult dependents.
But there is a catch: If the Republicans plan were enacted as proposed, money would be sent to the income tax filer (aka the parent) not the adult dependent.
House Democrats in May passed the HEROES Act which would have provided $1,200 stimulus checks for each adult dependent.
Why the bipartisan support for sending money for older kids? Since the CARES Act passed in March college student groups and think tanks have pushed for aid to be set asides for these Americans who got overlooked in the first bill.
“Any subsequent round of payments should fill gaps left by the CARES Act rebates and their implementation. In particular, it should extend rebates to people with modest incomes who were previously left out … [an estimated] 15 million older children and adult tax dependents,” wrote researchers at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in May paper arguing for adult dependent to be included in the next round of stimulus payments.