On Monday lawmakers in the House of Representatives passed a standalone bill that would significantly raise direct payments being sent to most Americans under the new COVID-19 legislation from just $600 to $2,000.
Both President Trump and Democrats support the measure that will now be sent to the Senate for approval, where its chances of passage will be slightly slimmer in the Republican-controlled chamber.
Over the weekend President Trump signed a $900 billion relief legislation into law even though he had slammed it as a “disgrace” because it had “almost nothing to do with COVID.” He was very resistant to the bill due to the meager $600 direct payments and many other spending measures.
Even though he gave in and signed the bill, Trump continued to advocate for increasing the direct payments to $2,000, which Democrats largely agree with.
In fact, it was the Republican lawmakers who were resistant to the increase of payments.
According to what a senior Treasury Department official told NBC News, the government is still planning to begin delivering stimulus payments to direct deposit accounts by the end of the week.
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