The GOP doesn’t want more stimulus checks. How that could change

June 01, 2020

The president is warming up to the idea. Most Democrats are down. But will Republicans get behind the idea of a second round of stimulus checks?

The $1,200 cash payments sent out as part of the CARES Act are likely already long gone for many Americans struggling amid the pandemic. Now, Republicans and Democrats are trying to figure out the best ways to deliver more help as jobless levels soar and other relief measures dry up. The Federal Reserve estimates the unemployment rate could spill over 30%.

House Democrats passed a $3 trillion stimulus bill earlier this month that would have given $1,200 to each American who earned less than $75,000 a year.

President Donald Trump quickly called the legislation “dead on arrival.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has called for a “pause” in new relief funding. As a result, one writer for Forbes put the chances of another round of direct payments to Americans at around “0%.”

“I think many Republicans are realizing that ‘stimulus’ checks are poorly targeted and not stimulative,” said Adam Mitchel, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation. The checks go to people who are still employed and don’t need the money, and aren’t always spent in a way that adds steam to the economy, Mitchel said.

In the first stimulus package “there seemed to be a willingness to try just about anything and at any cost,” he said. “Now that the initial frenzy has past, those initial ideas are being refined and thought through more clearly.”

Instead of another round of stimulus checks, Republicans have rallied behind a proposal to cut payroll taxes. Although such a move would leave some Americans with bigger paychecks, critics point out that it would fail to help those out of work and hardest hit by the downturn.

Meanwhile, even some Democrats have voiced reservations about sending out another round of checks, saying that beefing up unemployment benefits would deliver more meaningful relief.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/01/most-americans-want-another-stimulus-check-what-stands-in-the-way.html