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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke February 1, 2022

Clip of Jen Psaki talking about stimulus payments is old

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  • An old video of White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki talking about stimulus payments is from March 2021, but it’s being mischaracterized as a recent video and maybe fueling false hopes of more federal money for Americans. 
 

"This was announced on the TV channel last night," begins a Jan. 31 Facebook post sharing a video from a press briefing with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. 

"Some people in the country will start seeing those direct deposits in their bank accounts this weekend, and payments to eligible Americans will continue throughout the course of the next several weeks," Psaki says in the clip.  

What TV channel did this appear on? It doesn’t matter, because it didn’t air last night — it’s from March 2021. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

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Psaki made the comments on March 11 during a White House press briefing shortly after President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill. 

"And I have one more exciting implementation update for all of you," Psaki said about the bill. "Since the Treasury Department … and the IRS are working hard to get relief payments out the door as fast as possible to the American people, people can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend."

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The federal government has so far cut three checks to eligible adults in response to the pandemic, not counting payments from the child tax credit which ended in December. While some lawmakers have pushed for a fourth round of stimulus payments, it so far hasn’t gained traction. 

We rate this post False. 

 

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Clip of Jen Psaki talking about stimulus payments is old

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