President Trump signed the CARES Act into law.
It is the largest stimulus package in American history, costing $2.2 trillion.
A significant portion of that money will be spent sending Americans stimulus checks.
For weeks, the CARES Act Economic Relief Plan has been changed and updated within the halls of Congress, which has left many Americans with questions about who would and would not be included.
With the bill now law, we can answer several questions, such as:
If I owe child support, am I getting a stimulus check?
The answer is no.
On his website, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, one of the CARES Act co-sponsors, said “those who have past due child support payments that the states have reported to the Treasury Department” will not get a check.
What if I have a past due state or federal debt or owe back taxes?
We will give that answer a maybe.
The senator said the bill “turns off nearly all administrative offsets that ordinarily may reduce tax refunds or individuals who have past debts.”
This also applies to people who owe money to the state or federal government, which includes student loans.
Speaking of students, are college students eligible?
That is also a maybe.
Senator Grassley said students who aren’t their parent’s dependents and file taxes will receive a stimulus check.
However, parents will only get $500 for each child under the age of 17, which means parents of dependent college students won’t get additional money for them.