President Joe Biden has agreed to phase out direct payments to U.S. residents as part of his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.
Instead of taking time to phase out after the $75,000 individual income limit- as well as the $150,000 limit for joint-filers- payments will abruptly end for those making $80,000 or $160,000 in both circumstances.
Those income caps are lower than the ones passed by the House of Representatives.
The goal of lawmakers is to pass the bill in the coming days. Moderate Democrats called for a reduction in the overall reach of the stimulus checks- joining Republicans who wanted to see the base number significantly lower.
Eight million people who would have received payments under the House bill would lose them under the Senate plan, according to a rough estimate from Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Even more people are set to receive smaller payments than they would have under the House proposal, he added. Gleckman estimates the changes would save about $15 billion in a nearly $2 trillion piece of legislation, according to CNBC.
A separate analysis found that upwards of 12 million people would lose stimulus checks under the policy change.
RELATED: How the deal got where it is now in Senate (CNBC)
Democrats are lowering the income caps for the $1,400 stimulus checks, here are the phase-out levels:
-$75,000 for single filers; capped at $80,000
-$112,500 for heads of households; capped at $120,000
-$150,000 for joint filers; capped at $160,000 https://t.co/WptOrI7MLM pic.twitter.com/tOVWyfb7ij— CNBC (@CNBC) March 3, 2021
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]