Over the past month, tens of thousands of Americans — some 175,000, to be exact — signed a petition calling for a fourth stimulus check in the wake of the Delta coronavirus variant continuing to surge across the US. And not just a fourth check, either. This Change.org petition, which has garnered more than 2.8 million signatures as of the time of this writing, demands recurring $2,000 monthly stimulus checks. For the duration of the pandemic.
And the new signatures keep coming. One almost every few seconds, as I type these words.
Fourth stimulus check update
If a fourth stimulus check does end up happening, let alone anything resembling the asked-for recurring checks this petition calls for, it will be thanks in part to demand from the public. “It took nine months for Congress to send a second stimulus check, and just moments to spend it,” the petition reads. “Moving forward, Congress needs to make recurring checks automatic if certain triggers are met. No more waiting around for our government to send the help we need.”
Three official stimulus checks have been sent out so far during the coronavirus pandemic. Those amounts were for $1,200, $600, and $1,400, with the latter coming during President Biden’s first few months in office.
At the same time, we’re also in the midst of a new stimulus check series happening now. These don’t count as a fourth payment, however. They’re stimulus checks in the sense that they are money coming in the form of new checks, thanks to the $1.9 trillion stimulus law from March.
But these six payments, to be sent monthly through December, are actually advancement payments of the federal child tax credit.
More relief payments?
To be sure, the prospects for a fourth check look somewhat dim at the present moment. Republicans will assuredly mount a fierce opposition to this spending if the White House decided to push for this. And it’s not even clear the Biden White House has the political stomach for this fight. Its plate is already full right now. With everything from the disastrous Afghanistan situation to the coronavirus response and passage of an infrastructure bill. The latter being a particular Biden administration priority at the moment.
The other thing to keep in mind: The ongoing child tax credit payments.
As if the push for a fourth stimulus relief payment wasn’t already tough enough. It’s almost impossible to make the case for them to recalcitrant lawmakers right now. When there’s already a stimulus distribution underway, that is.
The next child tax credit stimulus checks arrive on these dates: September 15, October 15, November 15, and December 15. And in this previous post from a few days ago, we walk through the big impact that these payments are having.
