Will you get $$$? COVID relief checks to arrive as early as next week

Lawmakers finally rose above petty politics to agree on helping the American people, millions of whom have been financially crushed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday that a new round of stimulus checks -- just $600 this time, half the amount 150 million Americans received in the first stimulus package -- could start going out to Americans as soon as next week.

“People are going to see this money [at] the beginning of next week,” he said during an interview with CNBC. “Much needed relief — and just in time for the holidays.”

But fewer Americans will receive the checks this time around, Fox News reports.

"American adults who earned less than $75,000 in 2019 will receive the full $600 check, while couples who earned less than $150,000 will receive $1,200. The payments will be tapered for higher-earners (5% of the amount by which their adjusted gross incomes exceeded the initial threshold) and phased out completely for individuals who earn more than $87,000 and couples who earn more than $174,000," Fox wrote.

Dependents under the age of 17 are also eligible for $600 payments, which means an eligible family of four could receive as much as $2,400.

The New York Post has a nifty calculator here to see how much you might receive.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit its peak in the U.S. in March, Congress passed a $2.2 trillion relief bill that included $1,200 direct payments to Americans called the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security — or CARES —Act. The Internal Revenue Service cut 153.1 million checks and direct deposits all the way through August, totaling $269.3 billion, The Associated Press reported.

The payments began rolling out in mid-April, about two weeks after the CARES Act was passed. More than 81 million payments were disbursed within weeks, totaling more than $147 billion, all through electronic transfers to recipients’ bank accounts, according to the Government Accountability Office.