Fourth stimulus check: More payments coming!

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Fourth stimulus check is on the way. It’s possible the fourth stimulus check is on the way because of the high level of inflation recorded in the United States. The 4th stimulus check from the American Government will take either of the forms: one time payment up to $2,000 or monthly checks in fairly small amounts. Legislators have put up both options in Congress as a follow-up to the third round of pandemic relief which aims to pay citizens. The American Rescue Plan Act of March 2021 made this payment possible. Recently, the U.S. economy is just recovering, with slow but steady job growth.

Many American families are seriously renewing calls for more stimulus check in order to get some assistance as they combat high prices in food, gas etc. This is as a result of the persistent inflation still refusing to subside and make things easier on the wallets of American families. Even with many calls for more stimulus checks to be paid, some economists and government officials are continuing to caution against more government spending. They complain more government spending will not solve the problem, rather it makes it worst. All these are secondary effects of Covid-19 Outbreak.

There is a new poll this week from Newsweek which reported that 63% of Americans believe the federal government should issue new stimulus checks to assist many who are struggling because of inflation. About 42% of this number strongly feel this way. The result was generated from a survey between Oct. 23 and 24 of 1,500 eligible voters. Even with the call, there’s no legislation in Congress that’s likely to pass that though some Democratic lawmakers have called on President Joe Biden to consider recurring payments. The White House has passed back the buck, stating that the president would consider whatever Congress comes up with.

In May, seven Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to President Biden requesting that the administration add a fourth and even a fifth stimulus check to the American Families Plan announced earlier this spring. At the moment, the White House has said nothing much about a fourth stimulus check. In a press conference in June, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “The president is certainly open to a range of ideas,” when asked about the lawmakers pushing President Biden for more stimulus checks. But that doesn’t mean a fourth stimulus check is happening.

“We’ll see what members of Congress propose,” Psaki added, “but stimulus checks are not free.” The most noteworthy economic effort in current legislation is President Biden’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure investment proposal, the American Jobs Plan. The proposal doesn’t include a fourth stimulus check or anything like the direct payments that millions of people received over the course of the pandemic. Rather, it’s a long-term initiative to rescue, recover and rebuild the country’s financial standing.

Fourth stimulus check update

Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act, which created the third stimulus checks, did boost tax credits for most parents with children under 18, but only for the year 2021. Majority of parents and legal guardians will receive a tax credit of $3,600 for children under six, and $3,000 per child aged six through 17.

50 percent of that credit is coming in the form of monthly advance payments to parents from July 15 — $300 per month for younger kids, and $250 for older ones. That’s similar to the monthly recurring checks that some legislators have called and continued to call for. The same law also retroactively exempted a large chunk of unemployment benefits paid out in 2020 from federal income tax. People who collected unemployment in 2020 and paid tax on it are getting thousands of dollars in tax-refund checks.

The American Rescue Plan Act as well gives tax credits that cover all or majority of the cost of a “Silver” health-insurance plan for half a year under the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. If you filed for unemployment benefits in 2021, you’re qualified for this. If you don’t also have health insurance through Medicare, Medicaid or someone else’s health plan, you are eligible too.

Biden’s American Families Plan, which is separate from the American Jobs Plan, will seek to extend those tax credits, including the advance payments, through the end of 2025. The American Families Plan would also mandate up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave and subsidies for childcare. That’s not to say another widespread stimulus check can’t be written into the next major economic initiative. Although the consensus is that a fourth stimulus check isn’t likely, many lawmakers and economists initially questioned the need for a second and third stimulus check too.

Meanwhile, some people haven’t received their third stimulus check due to a “programming error,” detailed in a new Fast Company(opens in new tab) report. The IRS has admitted instances of payment delays, but hasn’t provided specific language on why certain taxpayers are facing issues with their payment. Be sure to check your stimulus check status or call the IRS stimulus check phone number with questions regarding your payment. Read on for everything there is to know about the possibility of another round of payments.

Fourth stimulus check possible timeline

Currently, there is no fourth stimulus check timeline or fourth stimulus check release date. Until legislation is in motion, we are not sure to say how soon more relief money might come. We can’t even say whether more relief money is coming or not. That said, the third stimulus check timeline happened rather quickly following Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20. It only took a few weeks for Congress to debate his American Rescue Plan. Once the president signed the bill on March 11, $1,400 checks were put in motion.

The IRS may begin to send out possible fourth stimulus checks in the same way it sent the previous stimulus payments. Since the framework is already in order, Americans may begin to receive the fourth stimulus checks about two weeks after a relief bill allowing another round of direct payments is approved.

Stimulus check scams and hoaxes

It’s obvious many are popularly demanding for widely distributed stimulus payments, and the confusing political maneuvering that goes into crafting stimulus bills, this has created an information gap that’s easily manipulated by scammers. Even with the first wave of stimulus checks in 2020, we saw lots of email messages that pretended to be from the IRS, promising “an important update on your Covid relief fund.” Yet, those only took you to suspicious sites only interested in getting your Social Security number and other sensitive bits of information for scam purposes.

After the the second stimulus bill at the beginning of 2021, scam phone calls were added to those emails asking for your personal details so that you could be “cleared” to receive more stimulus checks. In March, as President Biden’s American Rescue Plan was making its way through Congress, new phishing emails promised heaven and earth: a $4,000 stimulus check, a boost in the minimum wage, free meals and, best of all, priority treatment that let you skip lines at COVID-19 vaccination sites.

Most recently, cruel pranksters have been passing around posts on Facebook that a fourth stimulus check worth $2,500 is coming by the end of July. Don’t believe it, and don’t believe the phishing websites that claim to register you for child-tax-credit advance payments. In fact, most parents and legal guardians don’t need to do anything to get the payments — they’ll just show up in your mailbox or bank account.

$2,000 monthly stimulus checks possible

In response to President Biden’s American Jobs Plan proposal, about 21 senators on March 30 sent a letter urging the inclusion of stimulus checks in the legislation. The group called for recurring payments as long as the pandemic lockdown continued, meaning people would get monthly checks from the government. No amount for the payments was specified. “We urge you to include recurring direct payments and automatic unemployment insurance extensions tied to economic conditions in your Build Back Better long-term economic plan,” wrote the group, which consisted of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and others.

An earlier stimulus check proposal, put forward during the early days of the American Rescue Plan in late January, also suggested monthly payments until the pandemic is over, but did not mention an amount. However, Rep. Ilhan Omar(opens in new tab), D-Minnesota, tweeted earlier in January that she wanted to see $2,000 per month. If that amount sounds familiar, it’s because now-Vice President Kamala Harris threw her support behind $2,000 recurring checks during the negotiations for the second stimulus check legislation in the summer of 2020.

The proposal has also gained plenty of support outside of Congress: Six online petitions calling for $2,000 monthly stimulus checks until the end of the pandemic have been posted. The biggest petition, on Change.org, has been signed by more than 2.8 million people and has a stated goal of reaching 3 million.

Fourth stimulus check approval: what it’ll take

The White House hasn’t yet responded to any of the many proposals for additional stimulus checks, and the general sentiment is that a fourth stimulus check isn’t likely. Economists have suggested we’ve already moved beyond the pandemic’s worst financial woes, although there are signs that Americans could still use relief. Experts certainly seem in agreement that there won’t be a fourth stimulus check. The latest stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan, is “gonna be the last on that front,” Deutsche Bank senior U.S. economist Brett Ryan told Fortune. “No more checks.”

Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James, agreed, telling CNBC recently(opens in new tab) “I think it’s unlikely at this time. D.C. has largely started to pivot towards the recovery and an infrastructure bill.” Many economists and financial experts are worried that the third stimulus checks have contributed to a growing inflation rate. In June 2021, the core inflation rate, stripped of energy and food prices, rose 4.5% at an annual rate vs. the Dow Jones estimate of 3.8%. The overall consumer price index rose at an annualized 5.4% rate in June.