Whether Americans get a fourth COVID-19 stimulus check — or more — depends on Congress, which has not yet moved forward on progressives’ proposals to issue monthly $2,000 checks for the duration of the pandemic.
That’s the message delivered by the Biden administration this week when asked if Americans could expect another round of payments. As of Wednesday, the federal government has sent out more than 164 million stimulus payments of $1,400 since President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in March. The expense has added up to $386 billion, and White House press secretary Jen Psaki alluded to stimulus check funding without mentioning figures during a news briefing this week.
“We’ll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free,” Psaki said when pressed on the matter.
She noted that the American Rescue Plan included an historic temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which will see monthly payments sent to parents starting in July. Parents will receive $3,000 per child aged 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under 6. Democratic leaders and the Massachusetts delegation have called for the expansion to remain permanent, while a new proposal from Biden would extend it to 2025.
In a letter led by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and including Massachusetts Democrats Sen. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, 21 lawmakers in late March pressed Biden to include monthly payments and automatic extensions to unemployment insurance in any future recovery efforts. In May of 2020, Sens. Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders and then-Sen. Kamala Harris introduced legislation that would send Americans recurring $2,000 checks.
“A single direct payment will not last long for most families, and we are worried about the cliff facing unemployed workers when the unemployment insurance extensions expire on Sept. 6,” the lawmakers wrote in March. “This crisis is far from over, and families deserve certainty that they can put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Families should not be at the mercy of constantly-shifting legislative timelines and ad hoc solutions.”
At least 50 Democrats in the House of Representatives have similarly called for further, or ongoing, stimulus checks during the pandemic.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans are on board with the recurring checks proposal, according to a January poll from Data for Progress, a progressive polling and advocacy group.
A March Politico/Morning Consult poll showed at least 72% of Americans backed Biden’s previous relief bill.
The president has since announced a pair of nearly $2 trillion packages, one on infrastructure and jobs and another on families and education. Neither includes direct payments to as many Americans as the COVID-19 relief bills. Former President Donald Trump signed packages that sent $1,200 and $600 to tens of millions of Americans after the pandemic sent the economy in a tailspin.
During his address to a join session of Congress last week, Biden touted the checks sent to “85% of all American households. It’s making a difference.”
But he did not commit to calling for more.
“We’re continuing to evaluate what [Amerians’] needs are, to continue to get the pandemic under control and get people back to work, but we also think [the Child Tax Credit] will have a long term benefit,” Psaki said.
To get Biden’s expansive economic recovery packages, or any new stimulus checks, through Congress may be a tall order.
Getting the American Rescue Plan to Biden’s desk meant Democrats had to attach the package to Congress’s annual budget reconciliation bill — which only requires support from a simple majority to move forward in the U.S. Senate. The move sidestepped the Senate’s typical requirement for two-thirds majority support, which is a near impossibility for any further stimulus packages because it would require backing from at least 10 Republicans in the 50-50 split Senate.
No GOP members voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan, and even some conservative Democrats balked at previous attempts to issue $2,000 checks.
Related Content:
- Fourth stimulus: Sens. Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren push President Joe Biden for $2,000 monthly checks
- Third stimulus: Sen. Chuck Schumer pushing to make $3,000-plus Child Tax Credit permanent to ‘eradicate child poverty’
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