Is Joe Biden Nearly Done Giving Out $1,400 Stimulus Checks?
Following nine weeks of distribution of $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans from the American Rescue Plan, there are indications that the process is wrapping up.
Following nine weeks of distribution of $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans from the American Rescue Plan, there are indications that the process is wrapping up.
The IRS, over the course of the last nine weeks, has released a weekly report about how many stimulus checks had gone out that week, and how many had been distributed up to that point. The reports have usually gone out on Wednesdays, and the May 12 report showed that the ninth batch consisted of 960,000 payments, going under a million for the first time.
As of Friday morning, no such report had been issued for this week, although the IRS has not made any announcement about the process being complete. Each report has stated that the IRS “will continue to make Economic Impact Payments on a weekly basis.”
As of May 12, 165 million payments had been distributed over the course of nine weeks, with a total value of $388 billion. Politifact lists the total amount of money allocated from the Rescue Plan for the checks as about $410 billion, indicating that a small fraction of the money remains to be distributed.
Will there be another stimulus check? That appears unlikely. While there has been a consideration push for the government to send out a fourth stimulus check since the start of the pandemic, it does not appear that the Biden Administration is on board with such a movie. Instead, the Administration is attempting to pass the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, a pair of trillion-dollar spending packages that do not include near-universal direct checks.
However, recurring money is coming, beginning in July, from the expanded Child Tax Credit, which passed as part of the American Rescue Plan. That checks will begin rolling out on July 15, and parents will receive as much as $3,600 per eligible child.
Biden’s American Families Plan proposes extending the expanded Child Tax Credit to 2025, although a different proposal from Congress calls for making the credit permanent.
“Households covering more than 65 million children will receive the monthly CTC payments through direct deposit, paper check, or debit cards, and IRS and Treasury are committed to maximizing the use of direct deposit to ensure fast and secure delivery. While most taxpayers will not be required to take any action to receive their payments, Treasury and the IRS will continue outreach efforts with partner organizations over the coming months to make more families aware of their eligibility,” the IRS said on May 17, adding that 39 million households, covering 88 percent of the children in the United States, are set to receive the payments.
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.