Signatures backing an online petition urging the federal government to provide Americans with $2,000 per month stimulus checks for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to surge after it passed its 3 million targets just over a week ago.
More than 15,000 people signed the popular stimulus check petition on Change.org in the past week, and it remains to be one of the most popular petitions on the website. But lawmakers in Congress appear unlikely to provide additional direct payments.
Stephanie Bonin, a restaurant owner in Colorado, first launched the petition about stimulus checks in 2020 as the pandemic led to lockdowns and businesses shuttering across the country.
People from every state in the U.S. have signed the petition. It first crossed its target of reaching 3 million signatures on January 7. Since then it has gained more than 15,400 more supporters, as of the time of writing.
The Petition’s Statement About The Stimulus Checks
“I’m calling on Congress to support families with a $2,000 payment for adults and a $1,000 payment for kids immediately, and continuing regular checks for the duration of the crisis. Otherwise, laid-off workers, furloughed workers, the self-employed, and workers dealing with reduced hours will struggle to pay their rent or put food on the table,” the petition explains.
As of the week ending January 8, the number of initial unemployment claims stood at about 230,000, according to the Labor Department’s report released on Thursday. That was an unexpected uptick from the previous week, with some analysts suggesting the surge in COVID-19 infections (due to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant) had an impact. However, the number of jobless claims has recovered substantially from the early days of the pandemic in 2020.
