A top White House official said Tuesday that Congress would have to determine whether to send a fourth stimulus check to Americans this year. Over the weekend, a Change.org petition calling for $2,000 monthly checks received over two million signatures. The petition has already been added to the top ten petitions on the website.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked whether President Joe Biden could have the fourth round of direct payments or monthly checks in one of his budget packages at a press conference. "We'll see what members of Congress suggest," Psaki responded on a report on 10WBNS, but those are not reassuring.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started last year, Congress has passed three rounds of stimulus packages for millions of Americans. The CARES Act, which went into effect in March 2020, gave qualifying recipients $1,200 per individual, $2,400 per couple, and $500 per child.
Payments of $600 per single taxpayer, $1,200 per married couple filing together, and $600 per dependent were contained in a bipartisan $900 billion package in December 2020. President Biden's American Rescue Plan, which included $1,400 per person taxpayer, $2,800 per married couple, and $1,400 for young and older dependents, was approved by Congress in March.
The IRS delivered over 1.1 million stimulus payments on Wednesday, with 600,000 of them being sent via direct deposit. Since the American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March, the eighth batch of $1,400 checks has been sent out. Analysts have overlooked the possibility of a fourth stimulus check due to the rebounding economy and increasing vaccines. However, there is still high public interest in it.
Is the fourth stimulus check ever coming?
Biden's American Families Plan is a piece of new legislation that Congress must pass before it can become law - where you can get the benefits. Many households are expected to earn funding this year in addition to the other three stimulus grants already made, so the proposed benefits have been dubbed the "fourth stimulus" by the media. The majority of this funding would go to parents in the form of an expanded Child Tax Credit. As part of the American Rescue Plan COVID relief and stimulus plan, parents can receive benefits from July to December for children under 17.
Since it is a temporary aid contained in the COVID stabilization and relief package, it has been dubbed a "fourth stimulus" for those likely to take advantage of it. It's important to remember that this is a new bill enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan and is unrelated to the American Families Plan proposed last week.
By including this temporary credit in his proposed law, the American Families Plan, Biden offers to expand it until 2025, effectively borrowing the credit from one plan and passing it to another. There is still no public detail about whether or not a fourth stimulus check will be introduced. About 70 lawmakers have worked to make that so, but nothing significant has happened yet, Yahoo Finance reported.
Read Also: Did President Joe Biden Hint at Fourth Stimulus Check in First Joint Session of Congress?
The fourth stimulus check faces a tough battle
Biden is unlikely to devote precious political resources to lobbying for annual payments, given his attention on the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. Both plans will face an uphill battle to succeed, as Republicans have openly criticized them, and Democrats will need the support of 10 GOP senators to move forward.
Without that funding, Democrats could push the bills by the budget resolution, but that would necessitate a fully united caucus. Another alternative is to abolish or amend the filibuster, but because Senator Joe Manchin has said that he will not accept it, this is unlikely to happen.
Some Americans will see annual payments if the American Families Plan passes all houses of Congress. If it is now, the bill provides a clause to extend the expanded Child Tax Credit so that qualifying parents can continue to receive payments regularly. If a fourth stimulus check or recurring direct payments aren't included in a budget consolidation bill, Democrats would have to rely on Republican assistance, which is difficult but not impossible, as per Newsweek via MSN.
