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After the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act authorized COVID-19 stimulus money for most Americans, the IRS sent out or scheduled around 159 million payments worth more than $267 billion in total.

But while the majority of Americans received some stimulus funds, some groups of people residing in the U.S. were left out. One of those groups could soon get money: U.S. citizens in families with mixed immigration status. Here's why.

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle want to provide funding to Americans who were left out
The CARES Act that authorized the first COVID-19-related stimulus payment included a rule that prevented payments from going to citizens with Social Security numbers who filed jointly with someone who had an Individual Taxpayer ID Number (ITIN). ITINs are commonly used by non-citizens. That meant if a citizen was married to someone who filed with an ITIN, they'd have a choice between getting no stimulus money or filing as married filing separately (which comes with a host of tax consequences).

Now, there's bipartisan support to change that rule and make sure citizens who are entitled to stimulus money get it, even if their spouses don't have Social Security numbers.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives addressed the ITIN issue in the HEROES Act, which passed along party lines and authorized a second stimulus check. Under the HEROES Act, not only would all ITIN filers receive the second stimulus payment, but it also retroactively makes the CARES Act payments available too. As many as 4.3 million U.S. adults and 3.5 million children would benefit from this change, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Individuals affected would actually get two stimulus checks if the HEROES Act passes -- the first one and the second.

Two Republicans -- Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Thom Tillis of North Carolina -- also want to retroactively change the CARES Act rule that excluded millions of mixed-immigration status families. Their bill, the American Citizen Coronavirus Relief Act, is far narrower than the HEROES Act and doesn't propose a second stimulus check. However, it would allow U.S. citizens who file jointly with non-citizen spouses to get the first stimulus payment. And it would make stimulus funds available to dependent children under 17 who are citizens, as long as at least one of their parents is also a citizen.

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"Senator Rubio believes that no American should be denied a federal stimulus check because they are married to someone who is not a U.S. citizen," a spokeswoman for Rubio said Thursday.

Their pitch is twofold: American citizens should not be excluded from government aid based on who they married, and Republicans should not be alienating any group of voters at a time when President Trump's poll numbers are dropping and the GOP is at risk of losing its Senate majority.

"The good news about this proposal is that it's a no brainer: Any GOP member not voting in favor is certainly going to be targeted as not being fair or equitable and their motivations are going to be put in question," said Al Cárdenas, co-chair of the American Business Immigration Coalition and former chair of the Florida GOP.

"For U.S. citizens to once again be treated in a disparate manner in trying times is mean spirited and there's no logic to it," he added.