Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who will become Senate majority leader after Vice President Kamala Harris takes office on January 20, said Wednesday, January 8, that a third round of the stimulus package will likely be a top priority for Congress.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who will become Senate majority leader after Kamala Harris is sworn in as vice president on January 20, said on Wednesday, January 8 that a $2,000 payment will definitely be high on his agenda.

"One of the first things I want to do when a new senator takes office is to get a check for $2,000 to an American family," Schumer said. (The Senate is currently 50-50, with the current vice president serving as the tiebreaker.)

In December, after eight months of negotiations among House, Senate, and White House leaders, lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a second stimulus package of $600 per capita; the first stimulus package in March 2020 provided $1,200 per taxpayer, plus some for dependents.

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President-elect Joe Biden said Monday that he supports the new $2,000 payment. Senator-elect Raphael Warnock, Democrat, who won the Georgia Senate runoff on Tuesday, also said the $2,000 check would be his top priority after taking office.

"We should pass a $2,000 stimulus package so that we can give ordinary struggling people who are literally trying to keep their heads above water what they need and get the economy going again," Warnock said Wednesday.

As Bloomberg points out, the fastest way for the $2,000 check to be approved and disbursed to eligible Americans is for it to be approved by a Senate floor vote. [The bill must pass the House, but the House quickly approved another bill on the $2,000 check on the last day of the last Congress, which ended on January 3, and is likely to do so again. (Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who was the Senate majority leader until January 20, attached a "poison pill" amendment to that earlier bill when he introduced it in the Senate to prevent Democrats from voting for it.

Even if the new $2,000 check bill were introduced on the Senate floor, Democrats would need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster, and at least 10 Republicans would have to vote for it.

A handful of Republican senators had indicated in December that they would support the earlier $2,000 check bill, but two of them lost their seats on Tuesday. It is unclear how many will take such an approach after Democrats take control of Congress later this month.

The $600 payment approved in late December was processed quickly and began arriving in bank accounts just over a week after the bill was signed by President Trump on December 27.

If the $2,000 check passes soon after January 20, eligible Americans could see the funds at the end of this month or early February.

If you are still waiting for the second check, the IRS is sending payments through January 15 (the deadline to finish processing payments included in the $900 billion bailout); you can track your checks with the IRS's Get My Payment tool.