The IRS is all set to send out the expanded Child Tax Credit starting next week. Many Americans, however, continue to demand another stimulus check, and this is evident from the massive support for a Change.org petition, calling for regular coronavirus stimulus checks.
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This Change.org petition urges Congress to send $2,000 per month to every adult American and $1,000 per child, until the pandemic ends. The petition was started last year by Stephanie Bonin, a Denver restaurant owner.
“For our team and other Americans who can claim unemployment, even the maximum payments will not be enough for most people to continue paying their bills — and avoid slipping into poverty,” Bonin says.
This petition has already got more than 2.5 million signatures, making it one of the top signed on Change.org. People are not just putting signatures in support for more stimulus checks, rather are posting comments as well, and arguing why they believe more stimulus checks are required.
“These benefits are needed, just because the economy has somewhat picked up, the American people had an entire year and a half of a financial setback,” read one of the comments.
This petition is not the first time someone has called on Congress to send recurring stimulus checks. One Senate proposal, introduced last year in May, called for $2,000 per month per individual (and up to $10,000 per family). This bill was introduced by Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey, and then-Sen. Kamala Harris.
In January, Rep. Ilhan Omar and 55 Democrats, wrote a letter to President Biden, in support of recurring stimulus checks.
Why stimulus checks are unlikely?
Despite the petition and support from lawmakers, Capitol Hill has been quiet on another round of stimulus checks. Biden is focusing on his new infrastructure package. This infrastructure package doesn’t include any provision of recurring or even one-time stimulus checks.
Moreover, stimulus check talks have taken a backseat as the focus now is more on the Child Tax Credit (CTC) payment, which will start to go out next week. These reasons, along with the fact that the economy is improving, makes another round of stimulus checks very unlikely.
The June jobs report showed an unemployment rate of 5.9%, compared to 14.7% at the peak of the pandemic. Also, the vaccine rollout is another reason that lowers the chances of another stimulus check.
Even though Biden missed his target of giving the first dose of vaccine to 70% of adults, the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 67.1% of those over 18 in the U.S. have got the first dose.
"This is historic progress, pulling our economy out of the worst crisis in 100 years, driven in part by our dramatic progress in vaccinating our nation and beating back the pandemic," Biden said last week.
