Americans plan to save $1,400 stimulus check as Biden pushes Congress to pass relief bill
MANY Americans plan to save rather than spend stimulus checks included in a relief bill that President Joe Biden is pushing Congress to pass.
Biden’s $1.9trillion coronavirus relief bill offers direct payments of up to $1,400, that would be the third stimulus checks going out to Americans since the start of the pandemic.
A Morning Consult survey released on Thursday found that more than one-third, 34 percent, of Americans said they would save a significant amount of the check if they got one.
More people are planning to save the third stimulus checks than the first two direct payments, the survey commissioned by Bloomberg News found.
Furthermore, 11 percent of Americans planned to put the checks into their savings accounts, 30 percent wanted to put it toward food, 22 percent would use it for housing and 18 percent planned to pay for credit card debt.
Survey respondents also said they would use the money to pay off student loans, and housing costs including rent and mortgages.
The wealthy also intend to hold the purse strings, with 41 percent of households earning over $100,000 per year and 37 percent of households making between $50,000 and $100,000 saying they will save the next stimulus check.
Last April, only 23 percent said they planned to save a significant amount of the $1,200 checks from the Cares Act.
And 26 percent of people who got the second round of payments of up to $600 late last year, indicated they planned to save it.
They survey results factor into the debate on whether the stimulus money would go to Americans who do not urgently need it.
Some Democrats are asking Biden to lower the income thresholds for qualifying for checks.
Currently, the bill allocates $1,400 to individuals earning $75,000 annually and for couples making $150,000 annually, and phases out for amounts over that.
The bill, if approved, would also completely cut off individuals making more than $100,000 and couples earning more than $200,000.
Biden has said that his stimulus plan is intended to give struggling Americans benefits that will last longer than payments they got from previous economic recovery plans.
Such a stimulus plan would “spread out government support over time and avoid the kind of consumer spending stampede that’s led some economists to warn of inflation risks,” according to the survey.
As Democrats said the third stimulus checks could arrive in less than a month, Biden tweeted that he met with business leaders across the country to discuss the plan.
“I’m confident that by working together, we’ll get the economy growing again and get the American people back on their feet,” Biden said on Wednesday.
Most read in News
On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said promised that Democrats will try to pass the relief bill before the end of February.
Americans saving their stimulus checks could boost the economy and decrease the country’s debt.
This week, the Ways and Means Committee is marking up the stimulus bill and preparing it for a full House vote.