As the federal government continues to distribute the $ 1,400 stimulus checks set forth in President Joe Biden’s U.S. bailout plan, many have wondered if there will be further direct payments this year. So far, 74 congressmen have insisted on recurring checks until the end of the pandemic.
Two months before Biden signed the latest stimulus bill, Minnesota Progressive Representative Ilhan Omar and 52 other House Democrats sent a letter to President and Vice President Kamala Harris to continue the stimulus checks until the economy recovers with ‘ equal payments to adults and dependents’. “
“One more check is not enough,” the group wrote in the January letter. “Another one-time check round will provide a temporary timeline, but when the money runs out, families will again struggle to pay for basic necessities.”
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“It was very encouraging to see the direct cash assistance in your current economic rescue plan. However, it is clear that we need to take extra unprecedented steps during this unprecedented time in the history of our country,” they added.
“Repeated direct payments until the economy recovers will ensure that people can meet their basic needs, provide racially equitable solutions and shorten the recession.”
The signatories included Massachusetts Representatives Ayanna Pressley; Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey; Jamaal Bowman of New York; David Cicilline of Rhode Island; Jamie Raskin of Maryland; Jimmy Gomez of California; Pramila Jayapal of Washington; Rashida Tlaib of Michigan; Ro Khanna of California; and Ted Lieu of California.
On March 30, more than 20 Senate Democrats participated in the effort to push for monthly incentive payments, two weeks after Biden signed into law its $ 1.9 billion comprehensive economic relief package, which included only one-time $ 1,400 checks. The senators asked Biden to deliver recurring checks in his next aid package.
The text of their letter to the president was circulated online in early March with 11 Senate supporters, but the group was waiting for additional support before being sent out of the room with 21 signatories, a spokesman for Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon confirmed Newsweek.
“This crisis is far from over, and families deserve assurance that they can put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads,” the letter reads. “Families do not have to worry about having enough money to pay for their needs in the coming months.”
Apart from Wyden, the signatories of the letter also included Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, chair of the Senate Budget Committee; Cory Booker of New Jersey; Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee; Michael Bennet of Colorado; Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; and Alex Padilla of California.
Biden expressed no support for further stimulation tests. He also did not respond publicly to the letters from the legislators.
Three stimulus controls have been approved since the start of the pandemic, and it’s harder to pass through Congress than the previous one.
Any prospective direct payments will face an obstacle to the legislation, because reconciliation – the budget process that Democrats used to pass the last stimulus package without IDP support – cannot be used again until October 1st. With vaccinations, Biden’s government is likely to use reconciliation when it becomes available to push through other Democratic priorities.
An analysis published by the Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute & Brookings Institution in late March found that a fourth $ 1,400 stimulus test would lift 7.2 million people out of poverty.
Newsweek the White House issued for comment.