New COVID-19 stimulus bill is half of March’s. How else it differs. – Wausau Daily Herald

Stimulus payments from the most recentCOVID-19 relief packageare starting to arrivein bank accounts and should landin mailboxes in the near future, but the amountswill be noticeably smaller.

This fifth round ofCOVID-19 stimulus that President Donald Trump signed into law in late Decemberresembles March's $2.2 trillion CARES Act, but it's not nearly as generous.

The stimulus package will cost about$920 billion, according to Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.That's muchcloser to the $1 trillion packageRepublicans floated thissummer and a third of thebill House Democrats passedfor earlier this year.

Still, this package includes a mix of proposals from both parties:

Here's a look at some of the key differences between the March stimulus package and the new law.

In addition to receivingless money this time around, fewer Americans will receive a check because the payments phase out to zero sooner.

The deal came as two unemployment programs were set to end on Dec. 26: the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which provides aid to self-employed, temporary workers and gig workers;and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits beyond the typical 26 weeks that states provide to jobless workers.

In addition, the law gives unemployed workers an extra $300 on top of their state benefits for11 weeks.

The bill also gives an additional federal benefit of $100 a week to those who earned at least $5,000 a year in self-employment incomebut are disqualified from receiving a more generous Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefit because they are eligible for state jobless aid.

Some workers who have both wage (W-2) and self-employment (1099) income will be eligible for an additional $100 a week if their state offers it. Its unclear how states will determine eligibility for recipients. The bonus would be on top of the $300-per-week supplement and would last until mid-March.

The $920 billion price tag for the new stimulus package is dwarfed by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed in the spring, but a large portion of the money from the March bill passed hasn't been spent and will likely end up funding more than half of this package.

On top of the mounting annual deficit spending, the funds appropriated for the CARES Act and three other COVID-19 relief measurescommitted the U.S. debt to levels not seen since World War II.

In May, USA TODAY looked at how the first four bills would impact the federal deficit and debt. That story follows.

Contributing: Jessica Menton

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New COVID-19 stimulus bill is half of March's. How else it differs. - Wausau Daily Herald