Fact Check: Is a Fourth Round of Stimulus Checks in the Works?

No.

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Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a push by some lawmakers for a fourth stimulus check. There’s also an active petition on Change.org to the U.S. House of Representatives, signed by more than 3 million people, calling for $2000 a month stimulus checks for adults and $1000 a month stimulus checks for each child. Despite these efforts, no additional stimulus payments have been approved.  

But rumors of a fourth stimulus payment have still begun to spread on social media.

A viral Facebook video from January 31, features  White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaking about “direct deposit” and “payments to eligible Americans,” and makes it seem like a fourth stimulus installment is imminent. The video of Psaki’s press briefing is accompanied with the following caption: “This was announced on the TV channel last night. My close friend also called me this morning and told me about the wonderful news for drivers. All I did was complete the quiz and confirmed my driving details and now I am getting $675. Just tap learn more and complete the short quiz!” 

The widely shared Facebook post makes it seem as if Psaki’s announcement of additional stimulus checks is as recent as last month, but it’s not. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    They’ve got better ways to burn money than give it to people

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  2. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    Stimulus checks remind me of my two dogs. We had to install a device (mechanical, it cost about $8) to track if the dogs had been fed, because, if my wife fed them and I came through 5 minutes later, they'd stand at their dog dishes as if they hadn't been fed yet.

    I'm sure millions of Americans are standing by their dog dishes for that 4th stimulus check. But I'm not.

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    1. GregS

      Ah yes, you're sure that millions of Americans who were helped by the stimulus checks are now waiting for more money, no better than dogs waiting to be fed. But you're a different type of person.
      Wonderful.

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      1. Ingenero.lux

        Wow, that escalated quickly. Leaping to conclusions sure leads in some strange directions.

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        1. GregS

          Did I leap to a conclusion?
          "...my two dogs... (would) stand at their dog dishes as if they hadn't been fed yet. I'm sure millions of Americans are standing by their dog dishes for that 4th stimulus check. But I'm not."

          What does that mean to you? Is it not an analogy comparing millions of Americans to dogs waiting to be fed?

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          1. Ingenero.lux

            From there to “no better than dogs” is more than a little leap. You’re making it into a very derogatory statement rather than taking it as an analogy for endless hunger, even in a time of plenty. Three million people signed a petition to give every American a “stimulus” check (really a UBI masquerading as stimulus) during a time of incredibly low unemployment, massive levels of job openings, rising wages, and free availability of the COVID vaccine for every citizen older than five. If people are struggling in this economy there are likely specific non-pandemic issues they’re dealing with, and solving those with a country-wide stimulus is like cracking an egg with a nuke - far more force than justified. And using a “stimulus” like this would give the country an economic stomachache or worse - we can debate the President’s impact on inflation (likely not the primary driver right now), but shoving more than half a trillion dollars of newly printed money into the US economy on a monthly basis sure as hell isn’t going to improve matters. So the analogy works without the denigrating aspect you insist on - there are people who will clearly never feel “full” in the middle of a time where “fight for fifteen” is meaningless because $15/hr is the starting wage for the most menial jobs (which are trying to hire people en masse), wages overall are rising at a good clip (most especially at the lower end) and job openings for all skill levels and none are ubiquitous. It’s like taking someone from a Thanksgiving dinner straight to Golden Corral or reenacting the Mr. Creosote scene from “The Meaning of Life” (if you don’t know, don’t watch if you don’t like gross-out humor, but insert the most over the top gluttony possible here). Noting that some people’s hunger for “stimulus” can never actually be satisfied - like hungry dogs or hungry children or hungry teenage boys or all manner of other analogies - isn’t denigrative, it’s descriptive of what the article shows.

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      2. Avatar photo
        Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

        You’re entitled to your opinion

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        1. GregS

          I didn't express an opinion.

          But you're entitled to yours, even if your opinion is that millions of Americans are like dogs waiting to be fed.

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          1. Avatar photo
            Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

            Actually you did express an opinion. But I shall leave you with yours, and move on to more engaging comments.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Farhall

    This post makes me wonder if there's more than meets the eye here. Nominally, it's misinformation, but a look at all the comments on the Facebook post, I'm seeing people posting what looks to be their postal codes. I'm assuming it has to do with the "short quiz" that I can't see.

    The post author "Homes points" provides three addresses, two office-space-for-lease buildings (one in Greenville SC, another in DC) and one UPS store in North Miami Beach, FL. I'm almost impressed with the amount of (obviously copy pasted) legal boilerplate someone has spent to set this up, with T&Cs, privacy contact, etc. There's quite a bit of expense going into this, so I can't help but wonder what kind of money are they getting for this/profiting off of.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Ben Connelly

      It sounds like a scam.

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