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The Internal Revenue Service began sending $600 stimulus payments to eligible Americans’ bank accounts on Tuesday evening and will continue processing the transfers into next week, according to a statement from the agency, Bloomberg News reported. The IRS and Treasury Department will start mailing paper checks on Wednesday. The $600 payments will go to many low- and middle-income adults. Dependent children ages 16 and under in those households are also eligible for $600 each. “These payments may begin to arrive in some accounts by direct deposit as early as tonight,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “The IRS emphasizes that there is no action required by eligible individuals to receive this second payment,” the IRS said in a statement on Tuesday evening. “Some Americans may see the direct deposit payments as pending or as provisional payments in their accounts before the official payment date of Jan. 4, 2021.” The IRS is beginning to send the payments just two days after President Donald Trump signed the $2.3 trillion government funding and coronavirus relief package into law. The relief measures include a second round of direct payments as an attempt to bolster consumer spending and disposable income, which have fallen in recent weeks amid surges in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and new restrictions by cities and states.

Unemployed people claiming federal benefits won’t see a one-week gap in their payments, despite the delay in President Donald Trump signing the program extension into law, according to the Department of Labor, Bloomberg News reported. States are implementing the provisions as quickly as possible, and the Labor Department doesn’t anticipate that claimants will miss a week of benefits due to the timing of the new law’s enactment, a spokesman for the Department said in a statement yesterday. Trump signed a bipartisan stimulus and government funding bill, which included an 11-week extension of unemployment benefits, into law on Sunday, a day after benefits expired. That prompted concern that jobless Americans would lose out on benefits for the last week of December. Trump held off signing the bill for several days as he demanded bigger stimulus payments for individuals and action on two unrelated issues involving election security and removing a liability shield for technology companies. The pandemic relief law provides a $300-a-week payment for jobless individuals and extends benefits for self-employed and gig workers through mid-March. The $300 federal payments are on top of benefits that state unemployment offices provide. The state benefits vary by income and jurisdiction, but the average state payment was $378 a week, according to Labor Department data.

The House yesterday voted to beef up stimulus checks set to go out to American households in the coming weeks from $600 to $2,000, the Washington Post reported. The chamber acted swiftly after President Trump demanded the larger payments last week, but passage of the measure is uncertain because Senate Republicans have not unified behind the idea. On Sunday, Trump signed into law a $900 billion emergency relief package that included $600 checks. His advisers had advocated for those payments, but Trump later called the check size “measly” and demanded it be increased. After he signed the law, he pledged to continue pushing for the larger payments, something many Democrats also support. Forty-four Republicans joined the vast majority of Democrats on Monday in approving the bill on a 275-to-134 vote — narrowly clearing the two-thirds threshold it needed to pass. The measure’s fate is much less certain in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. Approving stimulus checks of $2,000 would cost $464 billion, the Joint Committee on Taxation said Monday. That would be in addition to the $900 billion package Trump signed into law Sunday. Congressional Republicans had sought to keep the total price tag under $1 trillion, but that was before Trump began a fierce effort in the past week to make the stimulus payments larger. One reason for the growing support is the weakening economy, coupled with the spreading pandemic, which has led to more people seeking unemployment benefits and turning to food banks for help. Read more. 

In related news, the Trump administration is scrambling to send one-time stimulus payments to millions of Americans starting as soon as this week, as the U.S. government races to implement a $900 billion coronavirus aid package that President Trump signed after days of delay, the Washington Post reported. The schedule corresponds with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s earlier promise to dispatch stimulus checks to families this week — a plan later thrown into turmoil after Trump initially refused to sign the stimulus package. Trump had attempted to secure last-minute changes to the bill after it passed the House and Senate, but his own party did not support some of his demands, and he relented on Sunday. The Treasury Department is able to move more swiftly than usual to deposit checks for as much as $600 into Americans’ bank accounts as a result of its earlier work this spring, when it disbursed larger sums under an earlier stimulus program. Americans who previously obtained their federal tax refunds through direct deposit were among the first to receive their payments at the time. Those receiving paper checks had a longer wait for the aid. Read more. 

The New York Legislature yesterday overwhelmingly passed one of the most comprehensive anti-eviction laws in the nation, as the state contends with high levels of unemployment caused by a pandemic that has taken more than 330,000 lives nationwide, the <em>New York Times</em> reported. Tenants and advocacy groups have been dreading the end-of-year expiration of eviction bans that have kept people in their homes even as they fell months behind in their rent. Under the new measure, landlords will be barred from evicting most tenants for at least another 60 days in almost all cases. The bill would not only block landlords from evicting most tenants but would also protect some small landlords from foreclosure and automatically renew tax exemptions for homeowners who are elderly or disabled. The Legislature convened an unusual special session between Christmas and New Year’s to pass the measure, acting quickly because the governor’s executive order barring many evictions was slated to expire on Dec. 31. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo wasted no time in signing the bill, which goes into effect immediately.

President Trump unexpectedly capitulated yesterday and signed the stimulus bill into law, releasing $900 billion in emergency relief funds into the economy and averting a Tuesday government shutdown, the Washington Post reported. White House officials didn’t explain why the president decided to suddenly back down and sign into law a bill he had held up for nearly a week and had referred to as a “disgrace” just days earlier. Trump signed the bill while vacationing in Florida and on a weekend when he had allowed unemployment benefits for 14 million Americans to expire. He had demanded changes to the stimulus and spending package for a week, suggesting he would refuse to sign it until these demands were met. This continued defiance caused lawmakers from both parties to panic over the weekend, worried about the implications of a government shutdown during a pandemic. It was unclear what prompted him to change his mind late Sunday, but he was under tremendous pressure from Republicans to acquiesce. The package will extend aid to millions of struggling households through stimulus checks, enhanced federal unemployment benefits, and money for small businesses, schools and child care, as well as for vaccine distribution. It also repurposes $429 billion in unused funding provided by the Cares Act for emergency lending programs run by the Federal Reserve. Read more.

Click here for the text of the legislative package signed into law yesterday: 

A bipartisan bill extending 25 temporary judgeships on the bankruptcy bench is headed to the desk of President Donald J. Trump after the House of Representatives approved it late Monday night, Law360 reported. The Bankruptcy Administration Improvement Act of 2020 passed the Senate by unanimous consent Dec. 9 after being introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) earlier that day, and likewise received a summary approval by the House this week. The bill extends 25 temporary bankruptcy court judgeships for a further five years in an effort to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of the country's insolvency system during a period of increased filings by large corporations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among others, the extensions apply to all seven temporary seats on the Delaware bankruptcy bench, one of the busiest jurisdictions in the country for complex chapter 11 cases which has only a single permanent seat. The law also extends a temporary hike in fees owed to the U.S. Trustee program for its work on chapter 11 cases. Originally set to expire in 2022, the new fee structure — which increased the maximum fees owed by chapter 11 debtors to the bankruptcy watchdog from $30,000 to $250,000 — will be extended through 2025. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

To view a copy of the enrolled bill, please click here. 

President Donald Trump injected confusion into the outlook for COVID-19 relief yesterday, demanding changes to the bipartisan legislation approved by Congress less than 24 hours earlier, Bloomberg News reported. In a surprise video announcement posted on his Twitter account, Trump called the bill a “disgrace” and said it was full of “wasteful and unnecessary” items. He demanded that lawmakers increase the stimulus checks due to go out to most Americans from the “ridiculously low” amount of $600 to $2,000 — or $4,000 for a couple. “I am asking Congress to amend this bill,” Trump said. “Send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package. And maybe that administration will be me, and we will get it done.” The attack on Monday’s legislation, which included $900 billion in relief along with $1.4 trillion in government funding through next September, marked a sudden change after the administration had endorsed frantic negotiations among congressional leaders to get a deal after months of stalemate. If the president doesn’t sign the legislation by Dec. 28, government funding would lapse after midnight that day, and it would suspend benefits from the previous COVID relief bill that expire at the end of the month, including a moratorium on evictions and extended unemployment insurance — all of which were addressed in the giant package approved on Monday night. Read more.

In related news, the $27 billion cash infusion for U.S. transit agencies that Congress included in year-end legislation will help avoid draconian service cuts but still leaves them facing sharp declines in ridership and gas-tax revenue for years to come, Bloomberg News reported. The measures provide $14 billion in transportation-related aid in the nearly $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill, and $13 billion in annual appropriations in the $1.4 trillion government funding measure that were both adopted on Monday. “It buys us some more time,” said Paul P. Skoutelas, president and chief executive officer of the American Public Transportation Association, which lobbies for transit agencies. “It doesn’t solve the problem by any means.” Skoutelas said that ridership on American transit systems has dropped 60 percent this year from pre-pandemic levels. He estimated that it could take several years before ridership returns to anything remotely close to normal levels, despite promising developments with COVID-19 vaccine deployment. Read more.

To view a copy of the whole COVID-19 relief and government funding package, please click here. 

The $900 billion U.S. stimulus package doesn’t allocate direct funding for restaurants and bars, another blow to two of the hardest-hit parts of the U.S. economy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The wide-ranging spending bill does allow small businesses to take out loans. It also directly funds several beleaguered industries, but doesn’t include restaurants and bars. With more states restricting indoor activities, these establishments are already facing a bleak future. “Independent restaurants and bars will continue to close without additional relief this winter, leaving millions more out of work,” the Independent Restaurant Coalition said in a statement. Those industries have been decimated by the pandemic that continues to rage across America. Bankruptcies and closures are surging. And while revenue has recovered somewhat from its low in April, sit-down eateries are still struggling. These declines have also hurt suppliers, including beer and spirits providers. Democrats in the House passed the Restaurants Act earlier this year that would have provided $120 billion in direct funding, but the Republican-controlled Senate declined to take up the legislation. Meanwhile, the stimulus set aside about $15 billion each for the airline and entertainment industries. Despite the lack of a bailout, the stimulus proved to be “a hard fought victory” that provides the sector an “element of hope” entering the new year, according to Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association. “Is this a long-term solution? No,” Kennedy said. “We’re just looking to survive the next three months.” Restaurants and bars, along with other small businesses, can apply for aid from the Paycheck Protection Program, the vehicle created by the first stimulus earlier this year. The PPP, which received $284 billion in additional funds, lets firms borrow 2.5 times monthly payroll costs, with restaurants and bars allowed to receive 3.5 times. Another critical part of the aid package, according to Kennedy, is that business expenses, such as rent, that are allowed to be deducted from federal taxes, can be paid with PPP funds. This was not the case in the first round of PPP, he said.