Odds of Second Stimulus Check in 2020 Are Fading Fast

With federal lawmakers back in session for the final stretch before Election Day, the next couple of weeks will be pivotal in determining if a new round of economic relief is passed and whether a second round of stimulus checks will be part of it. But breaking the stalemate that has thwarted new legislation so far won't be easy.

"It doesn't feel like we're going to get a deal before the end of September,” says Tamara Fucile, senior adviser for government affairs at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C. “And after that, it just feels like it only becomes increasingly more difficult."

When the coronavirus pandemic first hit the U.S. in March, lawmakers acted quickly to pass the CARES Act, which delivered several kinds of relief for people struggling financially because of temporary shutdowns of businesses. That aid included one-time economic impact payments — known as stimulus checks — of up to $1,200 per eligible adult. Those payments — whether they arrived as direct deposits to bank accounts, paper checks or debit cards — were a hit with recipients and lawmakers, many of whom said a second round of checks could be on the way.

Producing the deal that would make those checks possible, however, has been difficult. In late May, the House of Representatives passed the $3.3 trillion HEROES Act, which included a second round of payments and even increased the amount eligible dependents could receive. (The HEROES Act proposed $1,200 per dependent, while the CARES Act paid $500 per eligible dependent child.) The Senate never voted on that House bill, and the Senate's two proposals for new economic relief legislation — the $1 trillion HEALS Act (which included a stimulus check) and a slimmed-down $500 billion package (which did not) — failed to pass.