White House advisor rejects second stimulus checks due to eligibility issues

Talk about mixed signals.

I’ve been following the development of the stimulus packages very closely over the last couple of months.

With respect to an additional round of stimulus checks, there has been a lot of back-and-forth in terms of whether or not those checks will actually happen. 

Initially, there were discussions by Democrats about providing up to six months to a year’s worth of continual monthly checks, perhaps valued at $2,000 per month.

This ambitious plan was simply too much for opposing party members in the GOP party and so the Democrats decided to include a much less robust stimulus check plan in their latest bill proposal which they passed Friday. 

The new bill known as the HEROES act includes stimulus checks for $1,200 for individuals and up to $2,000 for couples. One of the biggest differences is that they have upped the proposed amount for dependents from $500 to $1,200 and have also expanded who could qualify as a dependent.

There were also some other changes and I broke those down in this article here. Some of the changes were not very significant because they do not change things very much.

But others, I immediately recognized as problematic.

For example, in order to receive a check under the first round of stimulus checks, you were required to have a Social Security number. However, with the new proposal you will only need a TIN number also known as a taxpayer identification number.

This will allow certain individuals who are not US citizens and who cannot obtain Social Security numbers to receive stimulus payments. 

Other changes like allowing those who owe child support to receive funds and removing President Trump’s name from the checks also seem like potentially problematic changes. 

In response to the newly added changes, White House advisor Peter Navarro said on ABC’s “This Week,” “Nancy Pelosi basically lost me with that package when she has $1,200 checks for illegal immigrants” and said it “just goes downhill from there.”

Based on the research I saw, nonresident aliens would still not qualify for a second stimulus check. So I did not think that illegal immigrants would qualify but maybe there is more to the bill. 

In any event, this statement just shows that there still is a lot up in the air when it comes to the support of another round of stimulus checks.

The White House did reportedly just express support for another round of stimulus checks. And the statement from White House advisor Peter Navarro does not mean that that interest was not true.

I think it just means that any changes to eligibility for the next round of stimulus checks could face a significant uphill battle.

The worry with including new changes is that they could make a second round of stimulus checks so unattractive that the GOP outright rejects the idea of another round of checks. 

But personally, I would assume that these changes were part of the negotiation strategy by Democrats and they are probably expecting to have to drop some of the changes in order to get this thing passed. 

I’m slightly leaning towards another round of stimulus checks being likely based on all of the research I have done over the last few weeks.

But there is a part of me that thinks that this could be a very prolonged process because many GOP members want to first wait and see how the stimulus checks are actually affecting the economy and the lives of Americans.

I expect this week to be a pretty event full week when it comes to stimulus package negotiations and I will keep you posted.

H/T