Emergency Cash: Monthly Payments Up To $5,500 For Families And $2,000 For Individuals

I spent nearly an hour trying to comfort a former colleague earlier this week. She is one of the 26.5 million newly unemployed in America due to coronavirus. In regular times, she’s a confident and outgoing professional who earns a good income and pays her bills on time. Now, she’s increasingly insecure as she awaits pending unemployment checks and searches for help getting her mortgage payments suspended. She is struggling badly with the idea of not being able to pay her bills next month. Surely, these conversations must be happening all across the country—the globe even.

What’s happening is astonishing. Coronavirus has forced us to wear face masks, physically distance ourselves from one another and buckle down at home as much as humanly possible. It has infected millions across the globe and is closing in on 50,000 U.S. deaths with many more predicted. The subsequent economic meltdown has caused well-established small and large businesses to crumble—with some going completely bankrupt. And, it has prompted more than 26 million new unemployment claims to be filed within a crushing five-week span. Oh yes, it’s absolutely staggering.

Employers are in distress. Employees are in distress. The economy is in distress, Americans are in distress. In response to the pandemic and subsequent financial crisis, Congress has taken action. It approved trillions of dollars to be funneled into the economy; however, the lion’s share is being put directly in the hands of businesses to manage instead of the hands of regular people. While the first stimulus payment in the amount of $2,400 for a married couple, $1,200 for individuals and $500 per qualifying child was approved, the growing consensus is that a one-off payment is grossly inadequate.

Emergency Cash Payments

The Emergency Money for the People Act will provide monthly payments of up to $5,500 for families with children, $4,000 for a married couple and $2,000 for individuals. However, this only happens if the proposed legislation gets approved in Congress. Two key advocates for this proposal are Representatives Tim Ryan (OH-13) and Ro Khanna (CA-17).

Here are the details of the stimulus proposal as specified in this press release.

• Every American age 16 and older making less than $130,000 annually would receive at least $2,000 per month.
• Married couples earning less than $260,000 would receive at least $4,000 per month.
• Qualifying families with children will receive an additional $500 per child – families will receive funds for up to three children.
• For example, a married couple making under $260K with 3 kids would receive $5,500 per month.
• Those who had no earnings, were unemployed, or are currently unemployed would also be eligible.
• Those who were not eligible in 2019 or 2018 but would be eligible in 2020, could submit at least two consecutive months of paychecks to verify income eligibility.
• The Emergency Money for the People Act also expands the program to millions more Americans who were excluded from the CARES cash rebates – such as college students and adults with disabilities who are still claimed as a dependent. The individual will receive the payment and their parent or guardian will receive the dependent credit.

There are four big differences between the so-called $1,200 stimulus check and these emergency cash payments. A key difference is that the $1,200 check was a one-time payment while payments under the new proposal would be monthly. Another key difference is focused around income limits. For the $1,200 stimulus check, individuals had to earn less than $75,000 to be eligible for the full amount while with the $2,000 check—as currently proposed—individuals can earn up to $130,000 for the full amount. To learn more about the key differences between the two, go here.

Most Americans Support More Stimulus Payments

Will this second round of stimulus checks be approved? That remains to be seen. A few days ago, Congressman Ryan re-confirmed the commitment and push to get it passed. One thing is sure. Most Americans want it to pass.

As evidenced by these four stats from a coronavirus relief survey conducted by WalletHub, a majority of Americans want more stimulus money to be put into the hands of workers and Americans.

1. 84% of Americans want another wave of stimulus checks.
2. 160 million Americans are less than three months away from running out of money.
3. 62% of people think all workers should get a stimulus check.
4. 65% of people say that stimulus checks are a more effective way to help American families than cancelling rent/mortgage payments.

Whatever happens in Congress, things are bad for people right now, and they are likely to get even worse before getting better. People are struggling to pay their bills, and they are making difficult choices about what to go without. These decisions are getting harder and harder by the day.

Most notable is that more and more people can’t even feed themselves or their children. With The New York Times reporting that food banks are being overrun by the demand, it’s getting dire. Even worse, this is not expected to end anytime soon since Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of America’s top infectious disease experts, warns there will be a second wave and declares, “We will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced that we will have coronavirus in the fall.”