Many Democrats may be in favor of another round of stimulus checks, but there is not much chance of seeing any more checks unless the push comes from the White House. At the moment, the White House doesn’t seem to be favoring a fourth round of stimulus checks. In fact, the White House press secretary on Thursday again downplayed the prospect of another round of coronavirus stimulus checks, saying President Biden has already proposed his most effective economic-recovery plan.
Q1 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, didn’t directly talk about stimulus checks. Rather, she said that the President would be “happy to hear from a range of ideas on what would be most effective and what's most important to the economy moving forward."
“But he's also proposed what he thinks is going to be the most effective for the short term for putting people back to work, to getting through this pivotal period of time, and also to making us more competitive over the long term," she said, according to Business Insider.
Biden is currently focusing on his $4 trillion spending initiative to boost physical infrastructure, as well as offer support for childcare, education and healthcare. The White House is already in negotiations with Senate Republicans on an infrastructure package.
None of the sides has even proposed more stimulus checks in the negotiations. Republicans, who weren’t in favor of the third stimulus checks, aren’t expected to support fourth stimulus checks even if any other side proposes it.
Not The First Time
This is not the first time the White House has downplayed talks of further stimulus checks. After approving the third round of stimulus checks of up to $1,400, the White House, it seems, was never interested in another round of stimulus checks.
Early last month, when Psaki was asked about the possibility of another stimulus check, she suggested that Biden is open to fresh stimulus checks if proposed by Congress. She also referred to the stimulus checks as a costly measure.
"We'll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free," Psaki said last month.
Also, stimulus checks were not part of Biden’s proposal for the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan and $1.8 trillion American Families Plan. Last month, some members of the House Ways and Means Committee even requested Biden to make stimulus checks part of the American Families Plan. Biden, however, hasn’t commented on it so far.
Other evidence that the White House is not interested in stimulus checks came with Biden’s recently released proposal for the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget. The $6 trillion proposal was quiet on stimulus checks as well, and this surprised many.
A budget proposal from the White House is an indication of the President’s priorities. The absence of stimulus checks in the proposal may suggest it isn't a priority for Biden any more.
So, this seems to be enough evidence to suggest that the White House isn’t in favor of any new stimulus checks. Thus, the fourth round of stimulus checks seems very unlikely for now.
