According to the report regarding White House officials, Tuesday said it would be up to Congress to decide whether to send out another round of stimulus checks to Americans this year. The petition is now listed on the site’s top 10 petitions.
A petition org that called for $2,000 monthly checks had garnered more than two million signatures. At a press conference, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked whether President Joe Biden could include the fourth round of direct payments or monthly checks in one of his spending packages Psaki replied.
“We’ll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free,”. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year Congress has passed three rounds of stimulus payments for millions of Americans. In March 2020, the CARES Act granted suitable recipients $1,200 per individual, $2,400 per couple, and $500 per child.
In December 2020, a bipartisan $900 billion package added payments of $600 per single taxpayer, $1,200 per married couple filing jointly, and $600 per dependent. “We need immediate checks and recurring payments so that we can keep our heads above water,” Stephanie Bonin, a Colorado restaurant owner who posted the Change.org petition, stated.
“Congress needs to make sure that we won’t be left financially ruined for doing our part to keep the country healthy.” To extend the expanded child tax credit through 2025 while Biden is not looking at a fourth stimulus check immediately, his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan.
The American Rescue Plan had expanded child tax credits for eligible families to $3,600 for each child aged 5 and under, and $3,000 for those aged between 6 and 17. Parents were to start earning advances on the 2021 credit through periodic payments of $250 commencing as early as July. Democrats had called to make this credit a tough one for American families.
“If passed, the families of tens of millions of children will continue to get regular payments,” Psaki said during the press conference. “We’re continuing to evaluate what their needs are to continue to get the pandemic under control, put people back to work, but we think that’s a proposal with a long-term benefit.”