There's No Fourth Stimulus Check on The Way. Here's What You Should Wait For Instead.

There's No Fourth Stimulus Check on The Way. Here's What You Should Wait Instead Jp Valery/ Unsplash

Unfortunately, there is no update regarding the fourth stimulus check. President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators hashed out the specifics of a prospective infrastructure deal last week, but there was no mention of pandemic-related funding.

Biden was open to a range of suggestions about stimulus spending, but he had previously proposed what would be most effective for the near term, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. As the economy improves, Congress, which would have to approve the funds, is unlikely to contemplate increasing direct payment funding.

While some Democratic legislators support recurring payments, the party has narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. Restricting the third round of payments was a top objective for moderates during talks on the most recent pandemic relief package, which was enacted in March.

Does Joe Biden plan to propose a fourth stimulus check?

Biden also wants Congress to enact his American Families Plan, which does not include a fourth stimulus check. Instead, it proposes free community college, more affordable child care, and guaranteed paid sick and family leave.

However, some pandemic relief that has already been approved by Congress is still making its way to American families. Payment adjustments are being made by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for those who lost income in 2020 and those who are owed more money than they were given. In conjunction with this, some families are scheduled to get early payments of the increased child tax credit.

Some people are still getting the federal boost to unemployment benefits, although many states have stopped paying those benefits early to push them back to work, as per CNN.

Per The Sun, the majority of Republicans believe that enough, if not too much, stimulus money has already been passed. Many people want to see Americans return to work before another check is imposed, according to reports.

Because Biden sees himself as a moderate who wants to work with Republican lawmakers, it's doubtful that he'll be spearheading the call for a fourth stimulus check and would lose prospective supporters. Republicans are also concerned about inflation, which they attribute to stimulus payments and federal unemployment benefits.

The federal program is supposed to cease in September, but half of the states have said they would stop receiving $300 payments before the deadline. The announcement comes as the IRS continues to give out millions of stimulus payments, with another $2.3 million just granted last week.

Americans who have just filed a tax return received around 900,000 stimulus checks. Plus-up adjustment accounted for another $1.1 million payments. This was intended for people who have earned more money after submitting their 2020 tax return. Americans who get plus-up payments may have lost their jobs or a portion of their income as a result of the pandemic.

Are there more stimulus checks?

The White House has put up two stimulus packages since the American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March: the American Families Plan and the American Jobs Plan, neither of which urged for more relief funds. Then, on June 3, the Biden administration announced that it would focus its efforts on enacting an infrastructure funding bill at a White House press conference, CNET via MSN reported.

The bipartisan infrastructure deal's new scaled-back compromise, unveiled by the White House on June 24, excludes anything connected to "human infrastructure," such as child care, higher income, or job training. "President Biden remains committed to the comprehensive agenda laid out in the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan," the announcement said.

Some Democratic House and Senate members have shown their support behind a fourth stimulus check. Several legislators requested that Biden add recurring stimulus payments in his next stimulus plan in late March. A similar request was made on May 17 by numerous members of the House Ways and Means Committee. They highlighted that "most people spent stimulus checks on monthly costs or necessities such as food, mortgage, utilities, and rent payments," referring to growing poverty and spiraling debt in America.