It appears that cash-strapped Americans can blame the improving U.S. economy for putting the fourth round of coronavirus stimulus checks in jeopardy.

The Labor Department reported earlier this week that the U.S. jobs market creeped even closer to its pre-pandemic levels, as initial jobless claims totaled a shade over four hundred thousand for the week ending May 22. The figure marked a sizeable decline from the previous week’s four hundred forty-four thousand claims.

Moreover, the Commerce Department announced that it will leave its optimistic estimate on first-quarter GDP unchanged at 6.4 percent.

The fast-improving U.S. economy can be seen in companies’ earnings reports as well. For example, Best Buy confirmed that sales surged 36 percent in the fiscal first quarter.

“This demand is being driven by continued focus on the home, which encompasses many aspects of our lives including working, learning, cooking, entertaining, redecorating, and remodeling,” Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said in a statement.

“The demand was also bolstered by government stimulus programs and the strong housing environment,” she added.

As for those who are still holding out hope for another round of stimulus checks, know that President Joe Biden had the opportunity to push for it last month before Congress, but he decided not to. Perhaps he was already anticipating such quick mending of the U.S. economy. 

And more recently, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked during a press briefing about more stimulus payments. Like Biden, she was mostly noncommittal. “We’ll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free,” she told reporters.

Still, there are plenty of lawmakers pressing the White House to rapidly green-light a fourth or even a fifth round of stimulus, as millions of Americans are still feeling the financial effects of the ongoing pandemic. According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, it shows that about thirty-four million people live in poverty in the United States. And a recent report by the Economic Security Project asserted that more rounds of stimulus could lift twelve million of them out of such living conditions.

Just last week, seven Democrats within the highly influential House Ways and Means Committee wrote a letter to Biden that urged him to include recurring direct payments in his American Families Plan. “The pandemic has served as a stark reminder that families and workers need certainty in a crisis,” they wrote. “They deserve to know they can put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.”

In March, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and other Democratic senators asserted in a separate letter that “a single direct payment will not last long for most families.”

The senators added that recent polling data show that 65 percent of Americans do, in fact, support recurring stimulus payments.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.