Fact check: Congress has not approved a fourth round of stimulus checks

The claim: A fourth stimulus payment worth $2,000 per person will arrive by Memorial Day weekend

Millions of Americans are still watching mailboxes and bank accounts for direct payments from the latest COVID-19 relief legislation Congress passed earlier this year.

President Joe Biden recently sent a mailer to taxpayers about the third round of payments, worth as much as $1,400 per person, that was part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package Congress passed earlier this year.

This week, the IRS said it was sending another 1.1 million payments in the form of direct deposits and paper checks.

But even before the federal government can finish doling out the third wave since the start of the pandemic, discussion is brewing – and misinformation circulating – about the possibility of a fourth round.

In a May 5 Facebook post that has been shared nearly 250 times, a user wrote that a fourth stimulus payment worth $2,000 per person would be arriving by Memorial Day weekend. A child tax credit of $300 to $500 a month would run from July to December, according to the post.

The post is wrong on several levels.

Congress hasn’t approved a fourth round of direct payments. And while the IRS will start sending out monthly payments for a larger child tax credit in July to some families, the user has the incorrect amounts.

The Facebook user who shared the post did not respond to a request for comment.

Pandemic relief

Congress has authorized three waves of direct payments since the COVID-19 pandemic began in spring 2020.

The first round came in the CARES Act in March 2020 and was worth up to $1,200 per person, with another $500 per child. In December, Congress signed off on a second traunch of payments of as much as $600 per person and $600 per child.

The third wave of payments, approved in March 2021, was for $1,400 per person, plus $1,400 for each dependent of all ages.

Dozens of members of Congress have said they support ongoing stimulus payments, but neither chamber has approved a fourth payment. More than 50 House members signed a letter in January imploring Biden to support recurring cash payments to Americans, and 21 senators sent Biden a letter about recurring payments in late March.

The White House has punted the discussion about a fourth round of payments back to Congress.

“We’ll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free,” press secretary Jen Psaki said when asked about the potential for more direct payments during a May 4 White House press briefing.

The IRS "Get My Payment" tool is how to find out when your stimulus check is expected to arrive. (Photo: Matt Rourke, AP)

Check’s in the mail

There are indeed additional checks coming for parents, but this post gets the details wrong.

The same legislation that authorized the third round of direct payments in March also included an expansion of the child tax credit for 2021.

Low- and moderate-income families who qualify are to receive the monthly payments of $250 or $300 per child between July and December. That amounts to an advance payment of about half of the total child tax credit for 2021.

The total tax credit for 2021 is $3,000 per qualifying child between age 6 and 17, and $3,600 for children under age 6, according to the IRS. That’s up from $2,000 per child under the age of 17 in 2020.

So far, the IRS has sent about 164 million payments totaling $386 billion in the third-round stimulus. The eighth batch of payments was scheduled to go out on May 7, according to USA TODAY.

You can check on the status of your stimulus payment at the IRS Get My Payment website. Those who were eligible but did not receive the first two payments can claim them as a tax rebate.

President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that includes $1,400 stimulus checks. (Photo: Associated Press)

Our ruling: False

The claim that a fourth stimulus payment worth $2,000 per person will arrive by Memorial Day weekend is FALSE, based on our research. Congress has approved three waves of stimulus payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has not voted on a fourth payment. The payments coming later this year on a per-child basis are $250 to $300 per child and were part of the third wave.

Our fact-check sources:

  • USA TODAY, May 4, ‘My fellow American’: Biden sends letter to stimulus check recipients, echoing mailer sent by Trump
  • USA TODAY, May 5, More stimulus checks on the way: IRS distributes another 1.1M, including ‘plus-up’ payments
  • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, accessed May 7, Your Guide to Economic Impact Payments
  • USA TODAY, April 28, Will there be a fourth stimulus check? Americans are looking for clues.
  • Letter from House members to President Joe Biden supporting recurring payments, Jan. 28, 2021
  • Rep. Ilhan Omar, Jan. 28, Rep. Omar Leads Letter Urging Recurring Survival Checks
  • CNBC, March 30, 21 Senate Democrats urge Biden to put recurring stimulus checks, unemployment aid extension in recovery plan
  • Letter from Senators to President Joe Biden supporting recurring payments, March 30
  • Internal Revenue Service, accessed May 7, Get My Payment
  • USA.gov, accessed May 7, Economic Impact Payments – Stimulus Checks
  • USA TODAY, May 3, When will child tax credit payments start? Checks set to roll out in July, IRS says
  • Internal Revenue Service, accessed May 7, Advance Child Tax Credit Payments in 2021

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Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

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