The legislation, which was negotiated on a bipartisan basis, provides for $600 in direct payments. After the deal passed in Congress, Trump called for $2,000 checks instead.
CNN asked you, our viewers and readers, after Congress passed the bill for your thoughts on the latest relief package. Many expressed frustrations over the direct payment of $600 and said the bill does not provide enough assistance.
Briana, from Concord, North Carolina, lost her job as a business development coordinator for a massage franchise due to the pandemic back in March and hasn’t received unemployment payments since October. She and her husband now rely on unsteady income they make from a small flooring company they own, where her husband also works.
She told CNN that while the $600 stimulus check is beneficial, it is not enough for her family to get through the next few months, especially since she’s concerned about making her mortgage payments on time.
"$600 per adult plus the $500 per child is not enough to get us through, let’s just say four months," she said.
"So, we have been very, very frugal with our money," Briana explained.
She said the first stimulus package from earlier this year was much more helpful.
Briana also noted that her situation is especially difficult since she made the decision to homeschool her 7-year-old daughter because of the uncertainty over in-person and virtual learning.
She told CNN that homeschooling takes up six to seven hours of her day, and she also dedicates time assisting her daughter with schoolwork. While Briana has been looking for work, it’s been difficult to find a job that works with her current schedule.
“People like me and my family, fall between the cracks,” she said. “We need some help.”
Nicole, a self-employed hairdresser from Los Angeles, California, who has been out of work for most of the year, called the $600 payment an “insult.” She’s been relying on the income of her husband and unemployment payments.
“We’re two income household and we need two incomes to make it work,” Nicole told CNN. Being unable to work has been a “big hit,” she said.
She told CNN the current package is not enough, and like Briana, she said the first stimulus package was more helpful.
"We’ve been sitting here waiting and praying for six or seven months now since the end of July when the first… unemployment, pandemic support ended and since that ended something is better than nothing, yes, but what are we meant to do with that? Where’s that supposed to go? When there’s so many places for it to go," Nicole said.
She also expressed frustrations on how long it took for the current package to pass, calling it “unacceptable."
The US House of Representatives could pass a provision Monday night aimed at increasing the amount of money individuals and families receive in stimulus checks to $2,000.