Biden pressed for FOURTH stimulus check as 6 in 10 Americans say $1,400 check will only last them three months

A FOURTH stimulus check is looking much more likely as the American Rescue Plan looks to other ways to help Americans struggling most during the pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan, the third stimulus package signed into law that saw millions of households receiving a $1,400 stimulus check, doesn't just approve a one-time stimulus check payment.

Instead, it allows for more payments that go straight to those struggling the most, and could even end up as an additional recurring payment.

The idea for a fourth stimulus check and recurring funds for Americans is being backed by at least 75 lawmakers.

There are a number of ways this direct payment could look like, including recurring payments through Biden's infrastructure bill that is being called on by Democratic Senators to add additional payments.

Another way would be to pass the minimum wage hike, which would move the current minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15, vastly improving the lives of over 32 million Americans.

Others want to renew federal unemployment payments to after September, while a new bill would expand the child tax credit to low and middle-income families with children.

Regardless, a fourth stimulus check could help lift over seven million people out of poverty according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Around two weeks after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion stimulus package into law, more than 20 Senate Dems joined the call for recurring payments in the next stimulus round.

And now more congressional members have joined the progressive push for a continued cash injection into people’s bank accounts.

The effort to push for more checks throughout COVID-19 began in January when U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar and 52 other House Democrats asked Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to push for recurring checks. 

"Another one-time round of checks would provide a temporary timeline, but when that money runs out, families will once again struggle to pay for basic necessities," the representatives said in the letter sent to Biden and Harris, according to Newsweek.

A spokesperson for Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon told Newsweek that the letter to the president circulated online earlier in March with the signatures of 11 senators, but the group waited for more support that included 21 signatories from the chamber before it was sent out.

“As you prepare your Build Back Better plan for long-term economic recovery, know that we are ready to work with you in support of recurring direct checks and extended unemployment insurance benefits to support Americans who are still struggling during the pandemic,” the group of Democratic senators said in the letter. 

Biden didn’t yet mention any plan for further stimulus checks or responded to the representatives’ letter.

Not many lawmakers in the middle seem to support the concept of recurring payments, noted CNBC, so experts don't think a fourth check will happen.

Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James told the network: “I think it’s unlikely at this time."

Biden's bill didn't have an easy time passing as Republicans balked at the spending and Democrats passed it by majorities.

Democrats previously used reconciliation, a budget process,  to pass the last stimulus package without GOP support. 

This process can’t be used again until October 1 which will create a challenge to pass the plan for direct payments, according to Newsweek.

There are high hopes for a fourth stimulus check after a poll revealed that the "majority of Americans want recurring $2,000 Covid-19 payments."

A fourth stimulus package of $1,400 could bring 7.2 million people out of poverty, according to an analysis published last month by the Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute & Brookings Institution.

Source: Read Full Article