Democrats in both houses of Congress are demanding fourth stimulus checks to help Americans who are already suffering financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center's recent analysis, a nonpartisan think tank, such a move could bring more than 7 million people out of poverty.
Did Joe Biden Talk About Additional Stimulus Payments?
As the economy recovers from last year's coronavirus-induced recession and the employment market grows, labor market and tax analysts do not expect fourth stimulus checks in the next relief program. Democrats are now pressuring Biden to expand other stimulus measures, such as the length of unemployment benefits and the payout program for the child tax credit.
Republicans have raised concerns over the rapidly rising budget deficit as they discuss additional coronavirus-aid funding. Many of them have complained that the $300 weekly unemployment benefit included in the new stimulus bill approved in March, called the American Rescue Plan, was too high and would deter Americans from going to work.
Biden was expected to hint at a fourth stimulus check in his speech Wednesday night, according to USA Today. Americans would be monitoring the speech to see if there was any indication that another check could be on the way. But the President made no mention of another stimulus check. He did reference the American Families Plan and the American Jobs Act, all of which could help Americans, but there was no mention of another stimulus check, as per The Deseret News.
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Fourth stimulus check: Is there a way to receive another relief payment
As demand mounts to give out further relief payments, Americans could collect a fourth stimulus check in various ways. As policymakers, including Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren, press for further payments, the Biden administration and some legislators are negotiating a new stimulus plan.
President Joe Biden received a letter from about 20 Democratic senators, including Wyden and Warren, asking him to include annual stimulus payments in his Build Back Better infrastructure package. That is one possibility for a fourth stimulus check. There are also other options for relief payments on the horizon, as per The Sun.
House Democrats launched a bill this week that would include regular $300 stimulus checks to parents. It suggests extending the one-year child tax credit increase, a poverty-fighting measure included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package passed in March.
The child tax credit will be maintained under this proposed package, increasing to $3,600 for children under six and a little less for children aged six to 17, at $3,000. Previously, both were worth $2,000 each. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the chairperson of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the bill's co-sponsors, stated the issue. "We must use this opportunity and pass the American Family Act, which would permanently increase and boost the child tax credit by increasing the payout to households by providing monthly payments," she added.
Will there be a fourth stimulus check?
The IRS has made nearly 161 million payments worth more than $379 billion since Congress passed the American Rescue Plan in March. However, two-thirds of Americans believed the new $1,400 check would not last three months, according to a recent Bankrate poll.
Members of Congress are working to deliver a fourth stimulus check to the hardest-hit taxpayers, BankRate via MSN reported. The coronavirus pandemic shook the U.S. economy. While stimulus checks have helped the economy rebound, analysts are concerned that some of the hardest-hit cities will continue to suffer the effects of the pandemic for the next decade.
According to a January poll conducted by Data for Progress, a progressive polling organization, 65 percent of Americans favor $2,000 monthly direct payments before the pandemic is over, with 41 percent "strongly supporting" the proposal and 24 percent "somewhat supporting" it.
The plan had also received broad support from economists, with 156 of the country's leading economists signing an open letter advising policymakers to make recurring direct payments before the economy recovered in July 2020. The president unveiled the American Families Plan on Wednesday night, but there were no specifics for fourth stimulus checks in the proposal.
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