A Change.org petition seeking monthly $2,000 stimulus payments has gathered 2.25 million signatures, leaving it around 750,000 signatures short of its 3 million objective. Stephanie Bonin, the petition's author and a Denver restaurant owner, is urging the United States House of Representatives and Senate to adopt legislation providing monthly $2,000 payments for adults and $1,000 payments for children until the coronavirus pandemic ends.
"Many Americans have yet to benefit from the recovery - the real unemployment rate for low-wage employees is believed to be over 20%. And many individuals are stuck with significant bills from last year for necessities like electricity, rent, and child care," the author said, as per Newsweek.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has made three direct payments.
A Petition urges lawmakers to adopt monthly stimulus checks
Congress passed a $1,200 payout in March as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, better known as the CARES Act, and a $600 payment in December last year under former President Donald Trump.
In March, President Joe Biden distributed $1,400 stimulus checks as part of his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
Bonin's petition placed 23rd on Change.org's best all-time petitions list in the United States earlier this month. It also ranked 40th in the world's top petitions. According to the site, it will become one of the top-performing petitions on Change.org when it achieves 3 million signatures.
Change.org's top 10 petitions for the year 2020 included this plea for regular $2,000 checks. With 2.1 million signatures, it placed in sixth place.
Bonin started the petition in March 2020 and has kept it up to date since then.
The majority of the discussion about a fourth or even fifth stimulus check centers on poverty and the effects of such payments on people's daily living expenditures.
According to a recent Bankrate.com poll, most Americans expected to spend the third stimulus check - the $1,400 checks approved as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan - on monthly expenses, basic needs, and debt repayment.
Adam Ruben, campaign director for the Economic Security Project, told CNBC, "We need at least one more stimulus check." An additional stimulus check will have more impact on the lower middle and low-income levels where the money at hand translates to an actual, concrete economic effect for the most significant number of individuals.
Read Also: Fourth Stimulus Check, If Approved, May Reach Only Fewer Americans: Why and How to Qualify
Democrats push for fourth, fifth stimulus checks
As family spending slows, Democratic lawmakers press the White House to offer a fourth and fifth wave of stimulus checks to keep Americans out of poverty.
The requests for regular payments come as consumer spending in the United States slowed in April, expanding by only 1 percent compared to 4.7 percent in March.
Seven Democrats in the House Ways and Means Committee support another wave of stimulus checks.
"The pandemic has served as a stark reminder that families and workers need certainty in a crisis," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to President Biden, as per The Sun.
Regular stimulus checks, according to lawmakers, could keep as many as 12 million Americans out of poverty. Although no amount has been specified, some politicians have suggested that checks worth up to $2,000 be issued. The move comes after another letter to Biden, dated March 30, in which the president was urged to implement regular monthly stimulus checks.
Related Article: Fourth Stimulus Check: Another Round of Direct Payments Depends on Congress; Lawmakers Urge for More
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