The federal government, it appears, is nearly finished distributing the $1,400 stimulus checks from the American Rescue Plan. And since then, many Americans have been calling for a fourth round of stimulus. There have even been multiple letters from Democrats in Congress, calling for additional checks, and a change.org petition calling for more checks has now reached 2.25 million signatures.

However, it doesn’t appear likely that legislation for additional checks will pass this year.

There are a few reasons for that. One is that the economy has improved as the coronavirus pandemic has receded. The previous stimulus checks were passed under emergency conditions, and that’s no longer the case now.

Furthermore, the Biden Administration does not appear to be interested in pursuing another round of universal checks. Such checks are not included in either of the administration’s next legislative packages, the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, although the latter does propose extending the expanded child tax credit through 2025.

The Biden Administration is currently in negotiations with Congressional Republicans over the infrastructure package, per Politico, as the president seeks bipartisan support. However, stimulus checks are not part of those negotiations.

Even if Biden did pursue more checks, it doesn’t appear that the votes are there in Congress for such a measure, especially to overcome a filibuster in the Senate.

“We'll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in the briefing room earlier this spring, when asked about additional checks. "If passed, the families of tens of millions of children will continue to get regular payments,” Psaki said in the same briefing of the American Families Plan.

A study released this week by the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions Group found that stimulus from the package at the end of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan this spring both succeeded in reducing “material hardship” among Americans.

“We believe the success of the federal government’s relief measures may be due to the speed, breadth, and flexibility of its broad-based approach, primarily relying on cash transfers,” the study’s conclusions said. 

In other stimulus check news, federal prosecutors this week filed charges against a Venezuelan man who they say stole more than $800,000 in stimulus money from Americans in Florida and Mexico. The man was charged with conspiring to steal government money and identity theft.

Meanwhile, many more countries around the world, including India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, are currently pursuing or enacting stimulus packages of their own. The European Union, this week, began tapping private capital markets in order to put in motion its own stimulus.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.