More people would get them under the Biden plan

Joe Biden wants to send millions of Americans their third stimulus check – and give others the first.

The president-elect’s $ 1.9 trillion economic relief plan calls for a new round of direct payments to help people pay their bills and provide for their families during the coronavirus pandemic.

The proposal would also expand eligibility for checks of $ 1,400 to certain people excluded from the first two rounds of relief.

A key group is made up of adults who may be claimed as dependents on the income tax returns of other people, such as college students or seniors caring for adult children.

The previous two stimulus bills providing for direct payments only allowed taxpayers to raise additional funds for dependent children under 17. The CARES law of last March gave households $ 500 for each eligible child in addition to $ 1,200 per adult, while the $ 900 billion relief program offered $ 600 for children and adults alike.

Biden’s new plan could also provide stimulus checks to a wider range of immigrant families. The plan calls for expanding eligibility to “all mixed-status households,” a term referring to families in which one person is a U.S. citizen or green card holder while others are not. legal immigration status. According to the National Immigration Forum, approximately 16 million people in the United States live in mixed-status families, including approximately 6.1 million children of U.S. nationality.

Last month’s stimulus bill took a step in that direction by paying $ 600 to married U.S. citizens to undocumented immigrants. But the money was not available to undocumented parents of U.S. citizen children with Social Security numbers, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

Biden’s plan does not specifically say whether these families would qualify for the $ 1,400 checks. Although its wording suggests that currently ineligible immigrant households would receive the funds, a Biden transition official told The Post that anyone who receives a so-called economic impact payment must have a security number. social.

If Congress approves Biden’s plan, Americans who were eligible for the three stimulus checks would end up receiving $ 3,200 directly from the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You shouldn’t have to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table,” Biden said in a speech Thursday announcing the package.

But Republican lawmakers are likely to run into reluctance over the high prices of previous stimulus proposals. Biden may have to compromise on some arrangements with Conservative senators concerned about the national debt, as the Post reported Thursday.