As some Americans begin receiving up to $600 in stimulus checks, the possibility of more direct payments is in limbo in the Senate Wednesday.

After the House on Monday night approved a standalone measure to increase direct payments from up to $600 per individual to $2,000, it then went to the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked efforts Tuesday for a fast-tracked vote on the measure. In response, Senator Bernie Sanders blocked a planned vote to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a national defense bill until there is a vote on the direct payments.

Later in the day, McConnell suggested tying together votes on two bills later in the week; one on the House-passed bill to increase larger direct payments and one on a measure that would allow the $2,000 payments only if a commission to study election fraud is established and parts of Section 230 are repealed.

In signing the $900 billion COVID relief package along with the larger government funding bill on Sunday night, President Trump said he wanted larger direct payments, as well as an investigation into unfounded claims of election fraud. Earlier this month he vetoed the national defense bill because it did not make changes to Section 230, which provides protections for internet platforms and technology companies.

On Tuesday morning, McConnell had said the Senate would start the process to address those priorities from the president.

Many Democrats oppose connecting the issues together, and would likely vote against the broader measure, according to the Washington Post.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference Wednesday morning, and called on McConnell to allow a vote on the increased payments. When asked if she would take up the measure again next week after new members of Congress are sworn in, she repeated her hope for getting it done this year.

“Let’s be hopeful it happens this week. The sooner it happens the sooner they go out," Pelosi said, referring to the $2,000 stimulus checks.

The Senate is scheduled to be back in session Wednesday afternoon. It’s unclear whether there will be any movement or discussion about the larger direct payments or any plans for a vote at this time.

If the larger direct payment amount is approved, the Treasury Department would send Americans the difference.

The House approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill early Saturday in a win for President Joe Biden, even as top Democrats tried assuring agitated progressives that they’d revive their derailed drive to boost the minimum wage.

The new president’s vision for flushing cash to individuals, businesses, states and cities battered by COVID-19 passed on a near party-line 219-212 vote. That ships the massive measure to the Senate, where Democrats seem bent on resuscitating their minimum wage push and fights could erupt over state aid and other issues.

Democrats said the still-faltering economy and the half-million American lives lost demanded quick, decisive action. GOP lawmakers, they said, were out of step with a public that polling shows largely views the bill favorably.

The relief bill would provide millions of people with $1,400 direct payments. It contains billions of dollars for vaccines and COVID-19 testing, schools, state and local governments, the ailing restaurant and airline industries and emergency jobless benefits while providing tax breaks to lower earners and families with children.

The House COVID-19 bill includes the minimum wage increase, so the real battle over its fate will occur when the Senate debates its version over the next two weeks.

“I am a happy camper tonight," Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said Friday. “This is what America needs. Republicans, you ought to be a part of this. But if you're not, we're going without you."

It's Biden’s first crack at his initial legislative goal of acting decisively against the pandemic. In the year since the coronavirus has taken hold, it has stalled much of the economy, killed half a million Americans and reshaped the daily lives of virtually everyone.

Republicans said the bill was too expensive and said too few education dollars would be spent quickly to immediately reopen schools. They said it was laden with gifts to Democratic constituencies like labor unions and funneled money to Democratic-run states they suggested didn't need it because their budgets had bounced back.

“To my colleagues who say this bill is bold, I say it's bloated," said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “To those who say it's urgent, I say it's unfocused. To those who say it's popular, I say it is entirely partisan.”

Republicans have also said it’s not targeted enough at the people and businesses that most need it and a grab bag of gifts for Democratic allies.

The House bill would also hoist the federal minimum wage to $15 hourly by 2025, more than doubling the current $7.25 floor that's been in effect since 2019.

But that proposal seemed highly likely to die in the Senate after that chamber's parliamentarian said Thursday that the cherished progressive goal must be dropped from the relief legislation, Senate Democratic aides said.

The finding by Elizabeth MacDonough, the chamber’s nonpartisan arbiter of its rules, means Democrats face an overwhelmingly uphill battle to boost the minimum wage this year in the face of solid Republican opposition.

Biden, a supporter of the $15 increase, was “disappointed” in the outcome but respected the parliamentarian's ruling, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. The Senate has a long tradition of heeding the parliamentarian's decisions with few exceptions, a history that is revered by traditionalists like Biden, a 36-year Senate veteran.

“He will work with leaders in Congress to determine the best path forward because no one in this country should work full time and live in poverty,” Psaki said.

Democrats are pushing the massive coronavirus relief measure through Congress under special rules that will let them avoid a Senate filibuster by Republicans, a tactic that Democrats would need an unattainable 60 votes to defeat.

But those same Senate rules prohibit provisions with only an “incidental” impact on the federal budget because they are chiefly driven by other policy purposes. MacDonough said the minimum wage provision didn’t pass that test, according to aides who described her decision on condition of anonymity because it hadn’t been released.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the minimum wage plan would remain in that chamber's legislation anyway, saying, “House Democrats believe that the minimum wage hike is necessary.”

She probably had little choice — many House Democrats are progressives who are insistent that the party fight for the wage boost. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a leading sponsor of the minimum wage increase, said Democats shouldn't be bowed by “the advisory opinion of the parliamentarian and Republican obstructionism.”

Democrats can afford little dissension over the minimum wage or anything else in the COVID-19 relief bill. They have no votes to spare in the 50-50 Senate.

Democrats are aiming to get the legislation to Biden’s desk by mid-March.

Republicans oppose the $15 minimum wage target as an expense that would hurt businesses and cost jobs.

MacDonough's decision might actually make passage of the overall relief bill easier because efforts to find a minimum wage compromise between progressives and moderate Democrats who'd prefer a more measured approach could have been contentious.

Democrats have said they could still pursue a minimum wage boost in free-standing legislation or attach it to legislation expected later this year that is to be aimed at a massive infrastructure program. But they’d still face the challenge of garnering 60 Senate votes, a hurdle that has upended Democratic attempts to boost the minimum wage for over a decade.

In a study that’s been cited by both sides in the clash, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the $15 minimum wage would increase pay for 27 million workers and lift 900,000 people out of poverty by 2025, but also kill 1.4 million jobs.

Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have state minimum wages that exceed the federal $7.25 hourly floor, with only the District of Columbia currently requiring a $15 minimum.

Seven states have laws putting their minimums on a pathway to $15 in a future year, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures.

As many Americans who do not file taxes and are on federal programs such as Social Security have not received a stimulus check, the IRS said Tuesday checks will be disbursed to them this week.

The IRS added that most will receive their payment by April 7.

“If no additional issues arise, the IRS currently expects to complete that work and to begin processing these payment files at the end of this week,” the IRS said in a statement Tuesday. “Because the majority of these payments will be disbursed electronically – through direct deposits and payments to existing Direct Express cards – they would be received on the official payment date of April 7.”

Additionally, the IRS stated that the “Get My Payment” tool will not be updated until April 3 or 4.

Tuesday’s announcement affects those who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) beneficiaries who did not file a 2019 or 2020 tax return or did not use the Non-Filers tool. The IRS did not have details for those who are VA beneficiaries, adding that payments “could” be processed by mid-April.

As of last week, 127 million Americans had received a stimulus check, largely going to those who file taxes. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman demanded that the Social Security Administration transfer to the IRS the information needed to administer the payments to federal beneficiaries.

On Thursday, Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul explained that there were some bureaucratic hang-ups that caused the payments to take longer than for those who file a tax return with the IRS.

The Social Security Administration said it has been working with the IRS to arrange a “reimbursable agreement” in order to administer payments to those on Social Security. Saul said that the Social Security Administration completed sending the IRS files of recipients last Thursday.

“(Social Security) SSA’s public service mission is squarely focused on many of those who are most economically-vulnerable in our society and we owe it to our beneficiaries to ensure they receive their (Economic Impact Payments) EIPs right away,” Saul said. “In fact, it was the substantial efforts of SSA that successfully overcame the fact that the IRS did not have a mechanism to automatically identify Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, some of the most financially insecure people in America. It was SSA that pushed the prior Administration and Congress to allow us to send to IRS a file of those individuals, who do not receive forms SSA-1099, so that IRS could automatically issue EIPs to them.”

Most Americans making up to $75,000 a year are getting a direct payment of $1,400 (couples making up to $150,000 a year will get $2,800). Heads of households making up to $112,500 annually also will receive the full $1,400.

Those making $75,000 to $80,000 ($150,000 to $160,000 for couples) will get a prorated check. Those making over $80,000 ($160,000 for couples) will not receive a check.

The IRS is using “adjusted gross income” to determine income eligibility for payments. If you have not filed a 2020 tax return, the IRS will use 2019 tax information to determine eligibility.

Contact Justin Boggs on Twitter @jjboggs or on Facebook.

A census scam is taking advantage of the public’s confusion regarding the stimulus payments that were sent out by the government to aid Americans during the coronavirus crisis.

The

Better Business Bureau

says the goal of the scammers is to get their hands on your personal information, which they’ll use to steal your identity.

“The 2020 United States Census is happening at the same time as a global pandemic, shelter-in-place orders, and government stimulus payments,” wrote the BBB. “With so much going on at once, scammers are using the unique circumstances to create confusion.”

Here’s how the scam works:

The BBB says victims receive an unsolicited message via text, email or on social media that explains that in order to qualify for your stimulus payment, you need to first complete the 2020 U.S. Census. Whether or not you’ve completed the real census, don’t click. It’s a scam.

Some versions of the phony message include a link to a website “for more information,” according to the BBB. If you click the link, officials say you could unknowingly download malware onto your computer or phone that can give scammers access to your usernames, passwords, and other personal information stored on your computer.

“In other cases, the link may take you to a website that looks like it was created by the official U.S. Census Bureau,” wrote the BBB. “However, the website is a fake.”

On that website, you’ll be asked for personal information, such as your Social Security number and bank account information. Don’t fill that out. The U.S. Census Bureau does not ask for this information.

The BBB offers these tips on avoiding census scams:

· Know how the U.S. Census Bureau communicates. The U.S. Census Bureau will only send you emails if you already signed up for them, and it will never ask you to send personal information in an email. In addition, the U.S. Census Bureau will never contact you on behalf of a political party.
· Only visit official websites. Valid U.S. government websites almost always end in “.gov”. You can find key information about the 2020 census at

2020census.gov

and information about economic stimulus payments at

irs.gov/coronavirus.

· Never click on links in unsolicited messages. Phishing scams direct you to websites that look official, but these sites may be infected with malware. If you don’t know and trust the person who sent you the message, don’t click on any links.