Fourth Stimulus Check Petition Gets 2.5 Million Supporters: Will Another Direct Payment Arrive?

A petition for a new round of stimulus checks has surpassed 2.5 million signatures as Americans await more relief aid amid the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.

The petition on Change.org was posted last year by Stephanie Bonin, a restaurant owner in Colorado. The petition asks the government to distribute $2,000 monthly stimulus checks for adults and $1,000 for dependents through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our country is still deeply struggling. The recovery hasn’t reached many Americans – the true unemployment rate for low-wage workers is estimated at over 20% and many people face large debts from last year for things like utilities, rent and child care. These are all reasons that checks need to be targeted to people who are still struggling and that Congress needs to learn from this past year,” Bonin wrote in an update.

“It took nine months for Congress to send a second stimulus check, and just moments to spend it. Moving forward Congress needs to make recurring checks automatic if certain triggers are met. No more waiting around for our government to send the help we need. Sign to join our movement to get recurring checks to the people,” she added.

As of Tuesday 9 p.m. EDT, the petition garnered 2,516,451 signatures.

It was named one of the platform’s top petitions that changed 2020, according to a press release published in December.

While the petition is on track to reach its goal of 3 million signatures, a fourth round of economic impact payments remains unlikely, according to Mike Konczal, director of macroeconomic analysis at the Roosevelt Institute.

"I don't see people advocating for another check at this moment," Konczal told Business Insider. "I think the big fights are about dealing with the legacy of the pandemic, both getting vaccination rates up, dealing with evictions and foreclosures, and making sure that bottlenecks in the economy are swiftly taken care of."

The Biden administration has also deferred from answering whether it would support more payments.

"We'll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a press conference in May.

In June, Psaki said President Joe Biden is willing to listen to different ideas related to stimulus payments, but signaled that a new round of relief checks was currently not on the table.

The U.S. government has sent out three rounds of stimulus payments since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020. The latest round gave eligible Americans up to $1,400 in federal aid.