Office of Congressman Ro Khanna
Washington, DC – On Tuesday March 17, Rep. Ro Khanna (CA-17) and Rep. Tim Ryan (OH-13) commended the Administration’s support for a cash payments for working Americans, which the two Congressmen proposed last week. The current Ryan/Khanna plan, the Emergency Money for the People Act, would provide a monthly check for between $1,000 and $2,000 to every American who earned less than $130,000 last year.
In a statement at the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing today, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that he would work with Senate Republicans to move forward with “sending checks to Americans immediately.”
“Americans need emergency cash, now,” said Rep. Ro Khanna. “Our economy has to get the stimulus from immediate spending. While we are glad to see that the Trump administration now supports our approach, we can’t wait any longer to see the Secretary’s words translate to action. The Trump Administration needs to adopt Rep. Ryan’s and my proposal in full and get this country on the road to recovery.”
“Many Americans have begun to follow our recommendations to stay home and avoid the spread of coronavirus,” said Rep. Ryan. “Unfortunately, that means many are now missing paychecks or losing their jobs. Our country is already hurting under these unprecedented times and we should take swift, broad-sweeping action to keep working-class Americans on stable footing. I’m heartened to hear that this Administration has joined Congressman Khanna and me to move forward with putting cash in the pockets of the American people. Time is of the essence, so let’s work together and get Americans the help they need.”
Under the Ryan/Khanna plan, the vast majority of working-class Americans would qualify for this tax relief. Every American adult making up to $130k would receive at least $1k and up to $2k per month for 6 months. Congress could then renew this again for another 6 month period. This would operate as a temporary, emergency Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), allowing the IRS to access 2019 Tax Return Information in order to ease the cutting and sending of the checks.
Additionally, those who earned $0, were unemployed, or who are currently unemployed will be also be eligible, and the payments would not count as income in order to protect eligibility for any of the income-based state or federal government assistance programs (eg. Medicaid/SNAP).
Congressmen Tim Ryan and Ro Khanna have urged leadership to consider their proposal for the third package of COVID-19 response legislation in the coming weeks.
