Americans could start seeing direct stimulus payments in their bank accounts as soon as Tuesday night, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Tuesday.

What You Need To Know

  • Americans could start seeing direct stimulus payments in their bank accounts as soon as Tuesday night, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced 

  • "Paper checks will begin to be mailed tomorrow," Mnuchin added in a follow-up tweet

  • On Monday night, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a measure to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 following the request of President Donald Trump

  • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blocked a vote on a bill that would raise stimulus checks to $2,000

In a pair of Twitter posts Tuesday night, Mnuchin said that the Treasury "delivered a payment file" to the Federal Reserve for stimulus payments.

"These payments may begin to arrive in some accounts by direct deposit as early as tonight and will continue into next week," Mnuchin wrote.

"Paper checks will begin to be mailed tomorrow," Mnuchin added in a follow-up tweet, directing Americans to check the status of their payments on the IRS' website.

“These payments are an integral part of our commitment to providing vital additional economic relief to the American people during this unprecedented time,” Mnuchin said in a statement to CNBC.

Mnuchin told CNBC last week that payments would be going out quickly.

“People go out and spend this money, and that helps small business and that helps getting more people back to work," he said.

On Monday night, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a measure to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 following the request of President Donald Trump, with 44 Republicans joining 231 Democrats in supporting the measure.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blocked a vote on a bill that would raise stimulus checks to $2,000.

That means it's uncertain whether the Senate will vote on $2,000 stimulus checks as a standalone bill by the end of the year, though it’s still possible the measure could come to the floor as part of other legislation.

The GOP leader filed new legislation late Tuesday linking the president’s demand for bigger checks with two other Trump priorities — restrictions on tech companies like Facebook or Twitter that the president complained are unfair to conservatives as well as the establishment of a new commission to review the presidential election. Though he moved to add it to the calendar, McConnell has not promised a vote on the new bill or a vote on the House-passed measure to approve $2,000 checks.

Trump criticized the majority leader in a Twitter post following McConnell's objection earlier Tuesday: "Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH!"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.