Atlanta

Getting a $1,400 stimulus check got one step closer to your bank account

By Justin Wilfon, WSB-TV
By Justin Wilfon, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — A $1,400 stimulus check got one step closer to your bank account Friday.

The bill passed through a committee and now is on its way to a vote by the full U.S. House later this month.

People like the Meadows family in Cobb County said the money will go a long way.

“Some of it, we’ll save. Some of it we’ll spend, put it back into the economy,” Duncan Meadows said. “I’m grateful it’s happening.”

President Joe Biden’s economic stimulus plan will send even more money to families with children. It also calls for a large increase in the child tax credit.

If the bill passes as written, the Meadowses, a family of four, would receive $5,600 in stimulus money, plus an additional $6,600 in tax credits for a total of $12,200 in assistance.

“A portion of that number is not really a surprise. The tax credit is new to me, so that is a surprise,” Atlanta economist K.C. Conway said.

Conway told Channel 2′s Justin Wilfon that the assistance will be a nice surprise for many struggling Georgia families.

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“We’re a younger demographic population here in Atlanta and Georgia, so we have more families and more kids,” Conway said.

Here’s how the tax credits would work if passed: The government would send $3,600 to families for each child under six, and $3,000 for each child up to age 17.

As part of the plan, each family could receive the money in monthly payments over the next year.

Conway is concerned about the package’s cost, which he said is likely to pass with little Republican support.

“There is a day of reckoning coming. We are going to have to think about that. Are we going to pay for it with higher taxes or how are we going to pay this down? These are incredible numbers,” Conway said.

They are numbers that the White House said will lift five million American children out of poverty.

Families like the Meadowses say the money would provide an extra security blanket as they ride out the rest of the pandemic.

“We don’t know what the next month or months will bring for us. Our jobs are safe right now, but you never know what will happen,” Meadows said.

A lot of the money would be phased out for upper income families.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms went to the White House on Friday to meet with the president to talk about several priorities for the city of Atlanta.

She told Channel 2 Action News after the meeting that she wants more say over how COVID-19 vaccines are distributed, and with $350 billion in the stimulus package for state and local governments, she certainly wants to make sure Atlanta gets its fair share.

Bottoms said she left the meeting encouraged.

House committee approves $1,400 payment as stimulus bill moves toward House vote (NCD)

Cox Media Group

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