More than 169 million stimulus checks, collectively totaling about $395 billion, have been sent out under the Biden administration since March, according to an update in recent days from the IRS — which came in tandem with an announcement that a new wave of more than 2.3 million additional stimulus checks was just sent out.
Those newly distributed payments were part of the still ongoing wave of the third stimulus checks that millions of Americans have received since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. And they come ahead of yet another new round of stimulus payments, which are distinct from a much-discussed and speculated about fourth stimulus check, that’s set to begin one month from today, when millions of Americans will start receiving the first of a monthly series of payments stemming from an expansion of the federal child tax credit. At the same time, interest in a fourth stimulus check has still not yet waned, in spite of the fact that President Biden has given no indication whatsoever that he has a plan to get one passed or that he’s even interested in doing so. Nevertheless, some lawmakers have been overtly pressing him for this — and there’s even one stimulus plan that’s been proposed which calls for $2,000 stimulus checks. Not just once, but on a monthly basis, until the end of the pandemic.
As of the time of this writing, a Change.org petition calling for those $2,000 monthly stimulus checks has garnered more than 2.3 million signatures. “It took nine months for Congress to send a second stimulus check, and just moments to spend it,” the latest update to that 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. Sign to join our movement to get recurring checks to the people.”
Some lawmakers are on board with that idea, at least in principle. Twenty-one Democratic senators signed a March 30 letter to President Biden in support of recurring stimulus payments. “An Urban Institute study suggests that a single direct payment of $1,200 combined with an extension of enhanced unemployment insurance and other assistance could keep 12 million people out of poverty, and adding a second direct payment could keep an additional 6.3 million people above the poverty line,” they write.
The idea of a fourth stimulus check has become something of a semantic anomaly, however, since you can argue that the federal child tax credit payments which start on July 15 count as such, for all practical purposes. And, in fact, for many recipients what they’re about to start getting will actually pay them more than even the most generous fourth stimulus check proposal thus far.
Remember, the $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation that President Biden signed in March is what funded this expansion of the tax credit, and what it makes available is up to $3,600 per eligible child. That benefit will be split up into monthly payments, of as much as either $250 or $300, which will be paid each month through the end of this year on the 15h of the month (except in August, when the 15th falls on a Sunday, in which case the payment will actually be made on August 13, that Friday).
