As the disbursement of third round of coronavirus stimulus checks begins to wind down, there appears to be more chatter in Washington regarding more direct payments to assist financially struggling Americans amid the ongoing pandemic.

Keep in mind that to date, Congress has already approved the delivery of three stimulus cash payments to most Americans—a $1,200 check in April 2020, $600 in December, and the current $1,400 payments under President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

One such individual pushing for $2,000 monthly stimulus payments is Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.

“I always think that we ought not overthink getting people out of poverty. It’s vitally important. It helps put food on the table. It helps stave off the prospect of losing your housing,” she recently told NJ.com.

“I think there certainly can be a case made for it. It gave people some breathing room and it gave people a sense of some stability, something that they could count on. This has been a very frightening period for people. They lost jobs or lost the hours. Women had to leave the workforce to take care of children. This has been devastating so we need to recognize what this means for struggling families.”

Watson Coleman’s comments are consistent with Rep. Ilhan Omar’s statement back in January: “A one-time payment of $2,000 is simply not enough. The American people are counting on us to deliver transformative change, and we need to meet the moment by delivering monthly payments of $2,000.” 

Moreover, dozens of Democratic senators have pressed the president for much of the year to quickly green-light recurring stimulus payments. In one particular letter, they pointed to polling data that revealed that a majority of Americans strongly support recurring checks.

“Polling shows 65 percent of Americans support recurring cash payments ‘for the duration of the pandemic.’ This includes support from 54 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of independents. Economists support the idea too,” the letter said. 

The senators continued: “A single direct payment will not last long for most families. … This crisis is far from over, and families deserve certainty that they can put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.”

More recently, about two million people already have signed a Change.org petition that calls for $2,000 recurring monthly stimulus checks.

“I’m calling on Congress to support families with a $2,000 payment for adults and a $1,000 payment for kids immediately, and continuing regular checks for the duration of the crisis,” the petition wrote.

According to a recent TransUnion research, roughly four in ten Americans are still continuing to experience income loss compared to before the start of the pandemic.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Minneapolis-based Science and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.