Did President Joe Biden announce "emergency" $6,400 stimulus checks in November 2024? No, that's not true: An online search found no such announcement from Biden, the U.S. Department of the Treasury or the Internal Revenue Service. Those two government agencies administered three earlier stimulus programs.
The claim appeared in a video post on Facebook (archived here) on November, 20, 2024, under the title "FREE $6,400 Check From Biden." Here is the written introduction to the 32-second video:
Biden Gives $6400 check for FREE 🇺🇸 💶
Every American is entitled to this cash benefit
This means you can have extra money in your pocket every month for gas, groceries and rent
Claim now by filling out the short form with the link below.
Here is a transcript of the video:
KAMALA HARRIS: To the young people who are watching, please know it's going to be okay.
ANNOUNCER: The election may be lost, but Biden and Kamala aren't done yet. They're secretly rolling out an emergency relief fund that's going to give Americans up to $6,400 in relief checks. Not many Americans know this yet because the media is focused on Trump currently. But those who register early will receive the funds within 3 to 5 days. Tap below before the enrollment period closes. It's free to check how much you can get. It only takes a minute. Tap the link below and find out.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Nov 25 16:18:00 2024 UTC)
Many Americans have already benefited from three rounds of stimulus programs (archived here) designed to bolster the economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Officially called "economic impact payments," the program was administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.
Lead Stories found no evidence of a fourth round of "emergency relief" money.
A search of news releases on the Department of the Treasury website for the word "stimulus" beginning in November 2024 produced no results (archived here). A similar search with the words "economic impact payments" found no pertinent results for November 2024 (archived here).
A similar Google News search for "emergency relief fund" in "November 2024" returned no pertinent results (archived here). A Google News search for "economic impact payment" and "November 2024" also produced no pertinent results. (archived here).
In a statement on the Internal Revenue Service website with a notation that it was reviewed or updated November 5, 2024 (archived here), the IRS discussed only the three previous rounds of payments.
For more Lead Stories fact checks on claims regarding stimulus programs, click here.
