In a month, political priorities in Congress and the White House have changed, putting aside the public debate on a possible fourth stimulus check, driven by a group of at least 75 Democratic congressmen.
In addition, the president Joe Biden has not commented on a possible fourth stimulus check, as the IRS continues with the distribution of the funds of the American Rescue Plan approved in early March.
The Democratic president is focused on his project of $ 4 billion dollars divided into two parts: the $ 2 American Jobs Plan –on infrastructure–. 25 trillion dollars and the $ 1.8 trillion American Family Plan.
There are different reasons that redirected the discussion in Congress about a fourth stimulus check .
1. More people vaccinated
Coronavirus cases in the US add up to million and reported 587, 930 deaths.
The infection rate remains high , more than 29,000 up to date, but despite hospitalizations and deaths have decreased, they are still worrisome with more of 600 deaths per day, reports Johns Hopkins University.
In this scenario, the Biden Administration established July 4 as a “country reopening” date, due to the advancement of vaccination against COVID – 19 , as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated Wednesday that 159 millions of people have received at least one dose of the vaccine .
In addition, 125. 5 million people have been fully vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson dose or the two Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna injections.
The Biden Administration has also expanded vaccination to minors between 12 Y 15 years and have relaxed the use of masks for fully vaccinated people.
2. The economy improves
With the implementation of the American Rescue Plan, progress was registered in the economy and the last report of applications for unemployment insurance registered little more than 440, this week.
The IRS must also implement other programs, such as the Child Tax Credit that will begin to be sent on 15 of July.
The growth of the first quarter registered an improvement with respect to the previous quarter on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the portal Seeking Alpha, specialized in finance and investment, which estimates that there will be an increase of 9.9% in the second quarter.
3. Unemployment insurance
The labor supply has increased and groups of employers have complained that people are not accepting to return, because it is convenient for them to receive unemployment insurance .
President Biden called for Americans to accept job offers, after only 266, 000 jobs, when the estimate was at least one million.
“We are going to make it clear that anyone who collects unemployment (insurance) and is offers him a suitable job, he must accept the job or he will lose his unemployment benefits ”, said the president. “There are some exceptions related to COVID – so that people are not forced to choose between their basic security and a paycheck, but otherwise, that’s the law. ”
4. No plan in Congress
Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi (California), Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Chuck Schumer (New York), Senate Majority Leader, have not spoken in favor of a fourth check proposal of stimulus.
In addition, Congress sources told this newspaper that there is no firm proposal on more direct economic aid per person.
5. Priorities
Both the House and Senate have several substantive discussions that set aside a fourth stimulus check.
This includes the creation of a special commission to investigate the insurrection on Capitol Hill on January 6 , proposal approved in the House.
Discussion of President Biden’s economic project of $ 4 billion dollars is also expected, which includes the plans for Jobs and for Families, and it is possible that some immigration reform will be integrated into that discussion under the Reconciliation rule, such as advanced Representative Raúl Ruiz (California) .
Congressmen are also debating the Israel-Palestine conflict, in particular the draft the Biden Administration to sell weapons to Israel.