Fourth Stimulus Check Update: New Payments Urged In Lieu Of Other Discounts

As Americans continue to feel the financial pressure of increasing prices in supermarkets and at the gas pump, some lawmakers are looking for creative ways to help out their constituents, with one state governor proposing a new stimulus payment in lieu of a more traditional form of relief when it comes to fuel prices.

In a spending proposal released this week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz revealed he wants lawmakers to pass a bigger rebate check for residents instead of doing a gas tax holiday. His proposal calls for $500 direct payments to adults making less than $164,400 a year and $1,000 per couple making less than $273,470. The plan would cost $2 billion and would be in lieu of a plan proposed by House Democrats which would waive the state’s 28-cent-per-gallon gas tax over the summer.

According to KMSP, a FOX affiliate, a gas tax holiday would bring a slower form of relief to residents of the state, with those who have a 15-gallon tank in their vehicle needling to fill up 119 times before saving the same $500 from the proposed checks, which is why Walz favors the idea of a rebate check instead, as it would give families more immediate relief and would give them extra cash to fill up their tanks—freeing up one portion of their household budgets.

“It’s quite a few fill-ups that you could get out of $1,000,” he said. “I think this money in the hands of folks before summer would make a good difference. And it’s fiscally responsible.”

Walz isn’t the only person calling for another form of stimulus payment in the face of higher gas prices, as Americans in the lowest income brackets have been having the hardest time when it comes to keeping up with the rising costs faced due to inflation. In a column for CNN, Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, urged the government to assist those families with another payment, and Americans have long been calling for more stimulus aid.

Lawmakers in D.C. are also trying to think of ways to help Americans out with rising costs as well, with a new proposal by Rep. Ro Khana (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D.-R.I.) that increases taxes on the largest oil companies in the country, and money collected from that being redistributed into a round of stimulus payments sent quarterly to individual tax filers earning under $75,000 annually or married joint filers making under $150,000.

Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), has also proposed a Family Security Act, which would send payments similar to the ones from the Expanded Child Tax Credit to qualified families. Those payments, if passed and signed into law, would see eligible families receiving $350 per month for children ages 0-5 and $250 per month for children ages 6-17. The maximum monthly payment families would receive is $1,250.

In terms of gas prices, Americans are feeling the squeeze, even as the average price per gallon dropped over the week. While the previous average price per gallon across the US according to AAA was $4.32 per gallon, the new average is $4.26 per gallon. This is still a massive increase in prices from the beginning of 2021, which was still reflective of slightly lower demand from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average cost per gallon of gas in March 2021 was $2.81 per gallon.