Senate OKs 3rd COVID payment, final House vote next week

The news is good if you're eligible for the third coronavirus financial relief payment. The Senate today, Saturday, March 6, approved the Biden Administration's American Rescue Plan.

UPDATE, Thursday, March 11, 2021: Biden signed the bill into law early in the afternoon today. He originally been scheduled to sign the bill on Friday, after it had been reviewed again and printed. However, the White House decided to move up Biden penning his enactment signature to the enrolled bill after it arrived at the White House on the night of Wednesday, March 10, so that its help provisions could begin.

The bill is headed back to the House, which is expected to pass the bill and its Senate changes next week.

The bill's overall cost still is $1.9 trillion, but the Senate jiggered how the money is distributed. In addition to the latest economic impact payment, or EIP3, of up to $1,400 per person, the Senate-tweaked plan also includes funding for cash-strapped cities and states, schools, additional unemployment benefits, tax relief for a portion of unemployment benefits, food assistance programs, rental relief and COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts.

Today's Saturday Shout Out goes to the articles that detail what is in the revised relief measure that's heading back to the House.

• What's in the Senate’s $1.9 trillion covid bill: Checks, unemployment insurance and more from The Washington Post
• Stimulus Package Update: How the Senate Changed Covid-19 Relief Bill from The Wall Street Journal ($ subscription required)
• A guide to what you can expect to get from the $1.9 trillion Senate stimulus from CNN
• Highlights: What's changed in the Senate’s virus relief bill from the AP 
• When to expect your stimulus check, and other questions, answered from Vox
• Who gets a $1,400 check, and other ways the COVID-19 relief bill may affect your pocketbook from the Los Angeles Times

Now we wait. But not for much longer.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) said in a statement following the Senate passage that the House will vote on the measure on Tuesday, March 9.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Claiming COVID-19 payments you didn't get last year as a tax credit on your 2020 tax return 
• Biden's proposed Child Tax Credit increase in COVID relief plan gets support … and questions
• Can't remember how much COVID payment you already got? Find it at your online IRS taxpayer account

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