When NoVA, DC Residents Could Get $600 Stimulus Check Payments

WASHINGTON, DC — Hopes for a round of $2,000 coronavirus relief checks were blocked in the U.S. Senate Tuesday, but a second round of stimulus check payments began arriving Tuesday night for some Virginia and DC residents and will continue into next week, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said.

Paper checks will begin to be mailed on Wednesday. Most people who make under a certain amount will receive a one-time, non-taxable payment of $600.

Full payments will go to people who meet these criteria for adjusted gross income based on 2019 tax returns: $75,000 for single filers, $112,500 for heads of household, and $150,000 for those married filing jointly. After those thresholds, the payments decrease, and won't be available for single-filers who earned more than $99,000. Adults also get $600 for each child they claim as a dependent.

If your banking information is not on file with the IRS, you will receive payment via a paper check or EIP card through the mail, reports CNET. It could take the IRS weeks or months to process all the payments that go out as checks or on the EIP cards.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday shut down Democrats' push to immediately bring President Donald Trump's demand for bigger $2,000 checks up for a vote, the Associated Press reported. The House voted overwhelmingly Monday to increase the size of payments.

McConnell said he plans to bring the president's demand for the $2,000 checks and other remaining issues "into focus." Among those issues is Trump's insistence on a voter fraud investigation despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

"Glad to see the House pass $2,000 stimulus checks. Providing meaningful and direct support is a critical bridge to recovery, and I urge the Senate to follow suit and make this happen," Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine tweeted Tuesday.

Democrats in an unusual twist found themselves agreeing with President Trump, who called for $2,000 relief payments and held up signing the stimulus package in a bid to boost payments.

"The president only added pain to misery with this needless delay. But now that he signed our COVID-19 relief bill, Americans who have lost unemployment benefits, are facing eviction, or going hungry will get lifelines they desperately need," Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia tweeted Monday.

Patch Editor Ryan Bonner contributed reporting to this story.