The stimulus checks that were provided for the last three times have been successful in helping the citizens of the United States of America during the coronavirus pandemic. And although it is a fact that at present, the country is facing a recovery, situations have not been the same for all. There is a situation of uneven financial recovery and not all the citizens have been able to come out of their struggles in a uniform manner.
The employment crisis still persists, even more, than it was before the pandemic came in. And in the midst of all these, the eviction moratorium of the federal government is to come to an end by the end of this month and most of the states will no longer be providing the employment bonus provided by the federal government. So, the most important question now is if there is a fourth round of the stimulus checks. There have been no concrete answers to the question but certain indications say that there might be.
Stimulus Checks In Demand
The third round of the payments was distributed about a few months ago. It was a part of the American Rescue Plan. Since that time, a total of about 169 million people have received financial support of 1400 USD each, which makes 395 billion USD from the bill of 422 billion USD. The stimulus checks provided by the American Rescue Plan were provided after the payments of 600 USD that were given at the beginning of this year. And the payment of 1200 USD was provided nine months earlier during the time when the pandemic situation was afresh.
There are a number of politicians belonging to the Democratic party who are working for the fourth round of stimulus checks. They include Ron Wyden, the Oregon senator, Elizabeth Warren, the senator from the state of Massachusetts, and another senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders. Together they tried to display their need in front of Joe Biden, the American President. A letter was sent by all these Democrats requesting President Biden to provide direct payment of recurring nature and the extensions of “automatic unemployment insurance.” The letter was sent in the last weeks of March.
The concerned Democratic senators supporting the stimulus checks had stated the fact that the economic crisis was far from being over. And this is the appropriate time for the government to provide security to the citizens with regard to their safety concerning their homes and food. They also stated that the citizens must not be subjected to the kind of legislative timelines that are always shifting.
This is not the first letter received by the Democratic President. Earlier, a total of 53 Representatives had also done the same to both the President and Kamala Harris, the vice-president. The concerned Democrats were led by Representative Ilhan Omar belonging to the state of Minnesota in demanding another round of stimulus checks. It was stated in the letter that the payments will go a long way in helping the people by providing them the basic necessities of life. It will also be an equitable solution racially.
The co-signers included Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic Representative from the state of New York, and Rashida Tlaib, another Representative from Michigan. These are the two most important figures from the House Progressives. However, there was no mention of a particular numerical figure in the prescribed letter. Following that, Ilhan Omar took to the social media platform, Twitter, to mention the figure which was 2000 USD per month.
Is Stimulus Check Feasible?
All the support that is placed by the politicians of the country is what keeps the possibility of the fourth round of the stimulus checks alive. The vaccination drives are being followed rigorously by all the states of the country. And in some states, children who are 12 years old are also getting vaccinated. As for the statistical data, about 53.3 percent of the country’s total population comes under the banner of having taken the first round. And about 45.1% of the citizens have received the second dose.
So with the rising numbers of vaccinated citizens, it is natural for the restrictions to be neutralized that will boost the recovery of the nation’s economy. Fewer restrictions mean more business and their smoother flow which will have a direct effect on the employment generation. And most of the industries have already displayed their demands for more workers. The state of consumer confidence is higher as compared to what it was during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
There is also the factor of “pandemic savings” at play along with other components like the previous rounds of stimulus checks. Naturally, the spending power will be boosted strongly when the child tax credit will start hitting the bank accounts in the next month. The sum of all these situations only reduces the need for the fourth round of stimulus checks.
Keeping aside all these economical factors, what poses a challenge is a political situation. When it came to the third round of the relief package, it had very little involvement of the politician belonging to the Republican party. Although not all of them opposed it. The Democrats passed the bill approving the relief with the support of the Republicans. The process of “reconciliation” had been used.
According to the process, a simple majority was what was needed for all the matters involving budget instead of the “filibuster-proof.” As per the rules, the reconciliation process can only be used once a year.
The plan of the administration of President Biden needs to focus on so many other important aspects at the moment. One of the infrastructure plans that the Republicans do not support. The “American Jobs plan” that is there at the moment was 2.3 trillion USD but later got reduced to 1.7 trillion USD following negotiations. It has a number of things to fulfill like rebuilding roads, repairing the bridges, modernizing the electric grid of the country, working for the extension of broadband and so much more. What it does not have is the fourth round of stimulus checks.
Then comes the “American Families Plan.” This is more concentrated on things like paid family leave, education, and child care. The amount of the plan is 1.8 trillion USD. and even this lacks any such provision of the stimulus checks. But this does not mean that there is no such possibility either.it is more likely for this plan to shelter the relief checks than the infrastructure plan. As per the information shared by the administration of President Joe Biden, the tax source of this plan is the individuals belonging to the wealthy society. Unsurprisingly, the plan lacks the blessings of the Republican politicians. They are against the increase in taxes.
So all these factors only prove that the administration in power will have to befriend the process of reconciliation more than once. The voters are open to doing so as well. This makes it hard to believe in the possibility of a fourth round of the stimulus checks as it will only increase the amount of money involved. There is also very little possibility for them to make use of the process of reconciliation. However, the silver lining is the existence of a series of other forms of payments like the extended unemployment benefits and an increased amount of child tax credits.
