Senate Republicans have staked their claim in the debate over the next coronavirus relief bill with a $1 trillion proposal offering another round of $1,200 stimulus checks and continued, though reduced, unemployment assistance through the end of the year. 

The HEALS Act is the opening salvo in negotiations that will pit Senate Republicans against House Democrats, who passed their own $3 trillion package in May that never made it past committee hearings. Now lawmakers have less than two weeks to meet Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's self-imposed deadline to pass a "Phase 4" stimulus package by August 7.

What this means for Americans relying on federal aid to stay afloat is still uncertain, as the two bills differ drastically on key provisions. But it does offer a clearer picture of what measures have more or less bipartisan support going into the pitched negotiations likely to occur in the coming weeks. 

Direct stimulus

Both bills offer another round of $1,200 stimulus checks to individuals making $75,000 or less and $2,400 for couples making $150,000 or less based on 2018 or 2019 tax filings. 

Where they differ is in the maximum amount of aid that a single household can receive, and the eligibility of individuals within a given household. 

The Republicans' HEALS Act is offering $500 for each dependent — the same amount provided under the Phase 3 CARES Act — while the Democrats' HEROES Act upped the amount to $1,200 per family member with a maximum of $6,000 per household. 

Both bills would begin to scale down the payment for single taxpayers making more than $75,000 per year, or joint taxpayers making more than $150,000. In addition, both bills would extend support to adult dependents as well as children aged 17 and under. 

This would make an additional 26 million dependents eligible for support on top of the 70 million supported by the CARES Act, according to the conservative American Enterprise Institute. 

The HEROES Act also makes it easier for immigrants to receive a check by requiring just a taxpayer ID number rather than a Social Security number. This measure did not make it into the Senate proposal. 

Unemployment insurance

Much more contentious is the debate over unemployment assistance, which so far has served as the backbone of the federal response. 

The Republican bill would immediately lower the weekly $600 unemployment aid supplement to $200 per week for the next two months. After that, the bill stipulates that states will put in place a plan to provide 70 percent of a worker's prior income. 

If states cannot meet that deadline, they can apply for an extension of the flat $200 supplement through the end of the year. 

This would drop the national average payment of $920.68 per week to $520.68 per week, according to an analysis by progressive think tank The Century Foundation. 

The HEALS Act would also put $2 billion into state unemployment systems to help them "handle a surge in claims, adjust wage replacement levels, adjust earnings disregards, be able to vary benefits over time, as well as automate a number of processes which are currently done manually in many states," according to the Senate Finance Committee.

 The House Democrats' bill, meanwhile, would extend the $600 supplement through January. 

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