A fourth stimulus check could be in our future as the idea gains more support from Congress.
Since the pandemic started, Americans have only been given three COVID-19 relief payments as millions have been unemployed. Many Americans received their third check officially on March 17, but several Democrats have been pushing for not only a fourth check but recurring checks until the pandemic has, for the most part, subsided.
According to Newsweek, 64 lawmakers are urging for a fourth stimulus check with recurring checks to follow after. Earlier this month, 11 Senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, called for Joe Biden to extend unemployment indefinitely on top of the signing off on more checks.
“We urge you to include recurring direct payments and automatic unemployment insurance extensions tied to economic conditions in your Build Back Better long-term economic plan,” the senators wrote to the president, Newsweek reports. “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,” Sanders continued.
Senators said the checks would “help keep families out of poverty, but they act as economic stimulus by increasing spending and supporting jobs.” They added that when the two $600 payments were distributed, they were spent quickly, and “poverty rose.” Economic experts and “65 percent of Americans” in a poll stated they support recurring payments.
