It's pretty certain that a second stimulus check is coming - President Trump recently confirmed there would be one and added that he wants it to be "very generous," however, insiders think it'll actually be less than the first one. You'll recall, millions of Americans received a check for $1,200 as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, but White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Friday that the next round might be less and would focus on those who are unemployed and/or have a lower income.

According to Reuters, Kudlow stated, "I think it’s going to be a tighter bill. We can’t keep posting $3, $4 trillion every three months or every two months." He added that the bill would be "very carefully targeted," noting, "It's not going to be across the board."

The news is not too surprising. After the House of Representatives passed the Health and Economy Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, the Senate immediately shot it down because of it's high, $3 trillion price tag. Some politicians at first wanted to get rid of the stimulus check altogether to cut costs, but have since walked back on that a little, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently saying there likely would be one, but it would be focused on Americans who make less than $40,000, which seems to echo what Kudlow said as well. That'd bring the bill closer to $1 trillion.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that congressional Republicans are weighing proposals that would see checks go to anyone making under $75,000, which was the cut-off salary in the CARES Act for receiving $1,200.

Also, expect to see employment incentives in the bill. Kudlow said, "The key now is helping folks get back to work. We’ll have some unemployment reforms. We'll have some re-employment bonuses. We will have some additional economic impact assistance in a targeted way." Most likely, that will be a $450 weekly bonus for unemployed people who return to work. Additionally, there could be an extension of the $600 a week in unemployment benefits, which currently is set to expire at the end of the month. No word on if it will change though, but many experts expect it to be a smaller amount.

As for when we'll know more, we'll have to wait to find out just what the Senate decides to do. They return from their current recess on July 20th. When they get back, they plan to finish out the month by hashing out what will be in this next bill. If they agree on something by early August, checks will be sent soon after since most of them will be direct deposits that, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, will hit accounts "very, very quickly" after a bill is passed. However, if they can't come to a consensus by then, they'll have to pick it back up after their next recess, which ends on September 7th. Thankfully, McConnell previously said he plans to have everything set by the end of this month.

Photo: Getty Images

Ed Lambert

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