President Joe Biden’s version of pandemic aid is set to look quite different from programs under former President Donald Trump. Both fewer businesses and families will be eligible for relief programs under the new administration.
For the third round of stimulus checks, President Biden has reached a compromise with moderate Democrats to narrow the income eligibility for the next round of $1,400 stimulus checks included in a bill the Senate is expected to take up in the next few days.
The House of Representatives’ bill, which passed Saturday, set the income caps for eligibility at $200,000 for couples and $100,000 for individuals. Meanwhile, President Biden’s new proposal he seems to have agreed to will reportedly completely cut off those who earn more than $160,000 a year and individuals who earn more than $80,000 a year.
With the new income caps, there are varying reports about how many Americans will be cut off from the next round of stimulus checks. CNN reports that 7 million fewer families will receive a partial payment than the House version of the stimulus bill. Meanwhile, Fox News reports that the plan put forward by moderate Democrats will cut off cash payments for roughly 11.8 million adults and 4.6 million children.
The House bill would benefit about 91% of tax-filing adults, while the Senate bill will help about 86%.
Unlike the last two rounds of stimulus checks, adult dependents, such as college students, are expected to be eligible for the stimulus checks.
Meanwhile, the federal Paycheck Protection Program small business loans are also set to undergo some changes.
The new changes, which went into effect on Feb. 24, will shut out companies with more than 20 employees until March 10 to give the smallest firms an exclusive two-week window. Some independent contractors and self-employed individuals could get larger payouts from the program.
“While the Paycheck Protection Program has delivered urgent relief to many businesses across the country, the initial round of PPP last year left too many minority-owned and mom-and-pop businesses out, while larger, well-connected businesses got funds quickly,” a senior administration official told reporters in a Sunday-evening call with news media.
Other adjustments to the program include eliminating restrictions on people who have defaulted on student loans and allowing non-citizen small businesses to apply using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, something that is designed to give legal immigrants such as Green Card holders a clearer path to receiving PPP funds.
In a fact sheet from the White House, the new administration claims that compared to last year’s program, the share of funding going to small businesses with fewer than ten employees is up roughly 60%, funding going to small businesses in rural areas is up nearly 30%, and funding distributed through Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions is up more than 40%.
