KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Trump signed the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history Friday after Congress ended a week of bickering and sent the legislation to his desk.
The $2.2 trillion package aims to boost the economy by helping those impacted by the global COVID-19 outbreak.
According to NBC, the stimulus will provide individuals who make up to $75,000 a year a $1,200 check. For couples who filed taxes jointly and make up to $150,000, there will be a payment of $2,400.
Parents also will receive an additional $500 per child.
The payments decrease for those making more than $75,000 with an income cap of $99,000 per individual or $198,000 for couples.
The legislation also provides $100 billion for hospitals, $377 billion for small businesses, $500 billion for corporations (e.g. airlines and cruise lines) and another $150 billion for state and local economic funds.
Those payments should help thousands of people recently laid off or facing a layoff in the Kansas City area.
"Once it got passed, I was just like, 'Thank you," Kimberly Newby-Dorsey said. "It was almost like literally 100% weight lifted."
The past couple weeks have been hard on Newby-Dorsey. She was laid off from her job at Savers thrift store.
"It’s just devastating when you go to work one day and everything is fine and the next day — sorry about it,” Newby-Dorsey said.
She’s been crunching the numbers on how she'd get by.
"I have it all listed of what is owed with gas, electric," Newby-Dorsey said.
Now, she’s breathing a sigh of relief as her family is expected to receive relief payments.
Newby-Dorsey has a husband and three children, so it’s estimated she’ll receive $3,900 from the stimulus bill from an estimated $560 billion set aside for payments.
The bill also provides an additional $377 billion to help out small businesses, which can apply for bridge loans after many were forced to close down due to the novel coronavirus.
One of those businesses is Teamwork Sports in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri.
"Rental by the hour, rental by the half-hour and for the most part all of that revenue is dried up for the foreseeable future,” Teamwork Sports owner Sean Wilson said.
March is supposed to be his busiest month, but his indoor batting cages and practice facilities are empty with youth sports cancelled for the time being.
"It’s eerily quiet in here, for sure,” Wilson said.
He noted that any help is needed during these uncertain times: "We have a rent payment and we have to make a payroll decision here in a couple weeks.”
The stimulus payments are expected to be distributed in the coming weeks and months.
