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- The Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives has voted in favour of passing a new round of COVID-19 related stimulus cheques
- President Donald Trump has been pushing for the US$2000 (roughly A$2633) cheques to be pushed through Congress
- The departing leader may not see his wish granted though, as the proposal now needs to pass the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate
- The Senate has previously raised concerns about the cost of the $2000 stimulus cheques and instead pursued a lower amount
- A wider US$2.3 trillion package (about A$3.03 trillion) has already been signed off by the President, with a portion of that money to go toward COVID-19 relief
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted in favour of passing a new round of COVID-19 related stimulus cheques.
The package would see most Americans handed an extra US$2000 (roughly A$2633) to help deal with economic pain caused by the pandemic.
President Donald Trump has personally backed the package and been vocal in his push to have the stimulus cheques passed through Congress.
He’s now one step closer to achieving this goal after the House of Reps, which is controlled by the Democratic Party, voted 275-134 in favour of passing the package on Monday.
It was a rare point of agreement for the Republican President and Democrats, who have also long been pushing for another round of US$2000 stimulus cheques.
However, the legislation still has to pass the U.S. Senate before it becomes official and Republicans have expressed concerns over the cost of the package.
Instead, members within the President’s own party are pushing for stimulus cheques of just US$600 (around A$790).
Commenting on the debate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Republicans to award American people much-needed help.
“Republicans have a choice, vote for this legislation, or vote to deny the American people the bigger paychecks that they need,” the Democratic leader said.
President Trump has already signed off on a wider US$2.3 trillion package (about A$3.03 trillion), with almost half of that money going towards COVID-19 relief.
However, the cost of increasing the stimulus cheques from $600 to $2000 is likely to cost an additional US$464 billion (approximately A$611 billion).
The proposal will head to the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday, where it faces an uncertain fate.
If Republicans do sign off on the $2000 cheques, Treasury officials have said they will begin being distributed to Americans as early as this week.
