The IRS may have already dashed to send out about two-thirds of the second stimulus checks for up to $600 apiece (track your payment here and calculate your total,) but some Washington leaders are already pledging a $2,000 third stimulus check. The calls for a $2,000 cap per eligible adult pick up where President Donald Trump, congressional Democrats and a few outspoken Republicans left off trying to raise the $600 ceiling on the second stimulus check to $2,000.

“One of the first things that I want to do when our new Senators are seated is deliver the $2,000 checks to the American families,” Chuck Schumer, the previous Senate Minority Leader, said Wednesday from the Senate floor. Schumer, a Democrat from New York, also declared himself Senate Majority Leader, in anticipation of Democrats officially gaining control of the Senate.

“Their election will put an end to the block in Washington on that $2,000 stimulus check. That money will go out the door immediately to people in real trouble,” President-elect Joe Biden said Monday while campaigning in Georgia for Rev. Raphael Warnock, who has been declared the winner of his seat against Kelly Loeffler, and Jon Ossoff, who has declared victory over incumbent David Purdue, although the results have not been called.

Would a third stimulus check for $2,000 apiece really be possible and when would it arrive? We’ll share what we know in the leadup to Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, as the situation develops.

New push behind $2,000 stimulus check rests on Senate win

With Democrats projected to install two Georgia senators, control of the Senate would shift to Democrats by a hair, making it easier for Biden to pass his objectives, despite what’s sure to be resistance from Senate Republicans.

Biden had already made it clear he supports a third stimulus check, but before Monday, had shied away from stating how much he’d support after taking office. In his early presidential campaign, he had suggested a $1,200 stimulus check, modeled on the first.

“This bill is just the first step, a down payment, in addressing the crisis — crises, more than one — that we’re in,” Biden said Dec. 22 in the last days of negotiation over the second stimulus check. When asked by a reporter if a future package would contain the third stimulus check and how much money he would seek, Biden said, “That’s a negotiating issue… But it will, yes, it will.”

It now appears that the introduction of a $2,000 per person upper limit in a serious way, and confidence of a Democratic Senate, have emboldened Biden to push for the larger sum.

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Second stimulus checks: Everything you need to know

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A third stimulus check could bring more money 3 different ways

A $600 is half the $1,200 from 2020, a sum that means recipients get less money per household. But there’s more to it than that. Since the upper limit for a second check is $600 per adult, with an extra $600 per child dependent, the way the IRS’ formula works out, more people hit the upper income limit for receiving a second payment, which means they won’t actually qualify to get any stimulus money at all.

A third stimulus check could:

• Make more groups of people eligible to receive a stimulus check (namely noncitizens who pay taxes).
• Bring a larger check to qualified individuals and their families.
• Make more people eligible for a partial check by increasing the upper income limit (that would happen naturally with a $2,000 check).

Again, much could depend on who wins control of the Senate, and what the new Biden administration sees as its goals in rehabilitating an economy weakened by the coronavirus pandemic.

What else could be in a new stimulus bill for 2021?

We already know some of Biden’s early economic stimulus objectives, which he shared as part of his presidential campaign trail. There’s a good chance that he’d push Congress to revisit those agenda items, in addition to several programs left out of December’s $900 billion bill by both Republicans and Democrats.

They could include measures like:

• A larger third stimulus check that could reach more people.
• Federal unemployment checks past March.
• Renewing the eviction ban past Jan. 31.
• Student loan deferrals or forgiveness for public schools.
• More money for state, local and tribal governments.
• More money for contact tracing, coronavirus testing and COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
• Liability protection for businesses against coronavirus-related lawsuits.

For more information, here’s how to calculate your second stimulus check payment, who may not qualify for a check and a primer on the five different priority groups.