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Stimulus Checks: President Biden signs American Rescue Plan

Biden Administration

Stimulus Checks| Graphic by Dylan Collison | The Wright State Guardian


On March 11, President Joe Biden signed off on the American Rescue Plan, a 1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. Americans who are eligible may have received a third stimulus check this past weekend.  

American Rescue Plan 

The American Rescue Plan has been in the works for several weeks as President Biden, the Senate and the House of Representatives all proposed different potential plans for delivering a third stimulus check to Americans. 

The third stimulus check, worth $1,400, could have been deposited into the bank accounts of those eligible as early as this past weekend; however, the Biden Administration is only guaranteeing that Americans will receive the money sometime in the upcoming weeks.  

Americans who received a paper check for previous stimulus checks are likely to receive their stimulus check at a later date than those who receive it electronically.  

Compared to the previous two stimulus checks, a much larger portion of the United States will be eligible for the extra aid than ever before.  

“Biden said 85% of American households will be eligible…With the third check’s new eligibility details, millions of people will get thousands of dollars more than they did with the first two payments,” CNet Personal Finance writers Clifford Colby and Julia Snyder said in a recent article breaking down the new law.  

Eligibility for the stimulus check 

The following are requirements Americans must meet in order to receive the upcoming stimulus check, based off of their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for the years of 2019 or 2020:  

  • Individual independents with an AGI below $80,000. 
  • Being the head of household with an AGI below $120,000.  
  • Couple joint filings with a combined AGI below $160,000. 
  • Dependents of all ages (including college students) may receive a stimulus check if their guardian(s) fall into one of the AGI groups above.  
  • Mixed citizenship families, US citizens living abroad, SSDI/SSI recipients, US territory citizens, incarcerated individuals and people who owe child support are also included in the third stimulus check so long as they fall into one of the above AGI categories (and may have additional criteria to meet).  

In addition to the above requirements, citizens in most cases need to have filed their 2019 or 2020 taxes in order to receive their stimulus checks. 

“Your filing status, AGI, and number of dependents will be taken from either your 2019 or 2020 return,” tax editor for the Kiplinger Rocky Mengle said in a recent update on the third stimulus check. “If your 2020 return is already filed and processed when the IRS is ready to send your payment, your stimulus check will be based on information from your 2020 return. If your 2020 return isn’t filed and processed at that point, the IRS will use your 2019 return.” 

There are some exemptions that allow Americans to receive the third stimulus check without having their 2019 or 2020 taxes filed. This includes being age 24 or older and receiving SSI or SSDI, or an independent and having an income below $12,000 a year (or joint married income below $24,400).  

With adult dependents eligible for the third stimulus check, many college students are able to receive the check when they have not been able to receive the previous two. In most cases, the check is given to the person who claims the adult dependent and they are responsible for determining how the money is used.  

“The pandemic affected me by making it ten times harder for me to get a job, even though I have bills to pay,” Wright State University student Lauryn Phillips said.  

Phillips is a criminal justice major with a double minor in forensics and psychology who said that she believes college students should have been eligible for the previous two stimulus checks, and that a fourth check should be distributed in the weeks to come.  


Kaitlyn Chrosniak

News Reporter

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