More than 4.6 million NC households will get stimulus help after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law Thursday.
Check those mailboxes and bank accounts. Most North Carolinians will be getting the latest round of COVID relief checks.
More than 4.6 million households in North Carolina qualify for the $1,400 stimulus payments at the heart of the COVID relief bill, according to an analysis by the bipartisan Congressional Research Service.
Individuals who make less than $75,000, heads of household making under $112,500 and couples filing jointly who make less than $150,000 are eligible for the payments.
The bill will be a particular lifeline to parents. The legislation also increases the child tax credit, which means that as early as this summer, a couple with two children would receive $5,6000 in direct payments and up to $300 a month from the credit.
The $1.9 trillion aid bill comes as the state continues to struggle with the pandemic’s severe economic effects.
North Carolina lost nearly 515,000 jobs between February and April of last year, according to state data, and though employment has rebounded in some cities and industries, some 40% of those jobs have not been recovered.
There has also been a huge increase in the number of people reporting being unable to afford enough to eat, and, even with federal eviction moratoriums, in the number of people at risk of losing their homes.
It also was an effort from Democrats, the bill passed both houses of Congresses without a single Republican vote. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law this afternoon.
Michael McElroy is a reporter at Cardinal & Pine. He is an adjunct instructor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media, and a former editor at The New York Times.
