$1,200 Coronavirus Relief Check Is Coming: Larry Kudlow

July 27, 2020 Topic: economy Blog Brand: Coronavirus Tags: HealthCOVID-19CoronavirusEconomyLarry Kudlow

$1,200 Coronavirus Relief Check Is Coming: Larry Kudlow

“The check is there, the reemployment bonus is there. The retention bonus is there,” Kudlow said.

White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow has confirmed that the next round of coronavirus relief will include $1,200 direct payments.

“There’s a $1,200 check coming, that’s going to be part of the new package,” Kudlow said over the weekend in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

While the specifics of who’s eligible to receive the cash won’t be known until the bill is passed, the determining factors will likely be similar to the first check.

The Republicans’ finalized version of the new coronavirus relief bill, worth about $1 trillion, will also provide reduced extension of unemployment benefits, lengthening of the federal eviction moratorium, liability protection for businesses, funding to help schools restart, new funds for COVID-19 testing and tax incentives to encourage companies to rehire employees.

“The check is there, the reemployment bonus is there. The retention bonus is there,” Kudlow said.

“There will be breaks, tax credits for small businesses and restaurants. It’s a very well-rounded package. It’s a very well-targeted package.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who also seemed satisfied with the new bill, said that he hopes Congress can put down their differences and work in a bipartisan manner to approve the proposal.

“We do have an entire plan—the (Trump) administration and the Senate Republicans are completely on the same page. … We can move very quickly with the Democrats on these issues,” Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“We’ve moved quickly before and I see no reason why we can’t move quickly again. And if there are issues that take longer, we’ll deal with those as well.”

The $600 weekly enhanced supplement to state unemployment checks, a major part of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, ended over the weekend. The Trump administration’s plan seeks to cap unemployment benefits at about 70% of wage replacement.

That is “quite generous by any standard,” Kudlow said.

Another key component of the legislation is the lengthening of the federal eviction moratorium, which has protected millions of renters across the U.S. in the last four months from getting evicted. Many cities have been bracing for a surge of evictions when the moratorium expired on Friday.

The U.S. has reported more than 4.2 million coronavirus cases and at least 147,000 deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.