“You’re seeing folks spending it on like bills, food, school supplies, some for savings, and some for paying off debt, and I think this sort of speaks to the real value of this kind of economic relief, especially in the middle of a pandemic,” Ahmad Ali, press secretary for progressive pollster Data for Progress told The Hill. “It’s about making things a little bit easier to raise a family to stay afloat in the middle of all this.”

Democratic leadership aimed to pass the extension as part of a larger social and climate spending plan known as the Build Back Better Act, a cornerstone of President Biden’s economic agenda.

But those efforts hit a roadblock amid opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a key centrist holdout who has expressed concerns about the expanded credit, in addition to the overall package in its current form. Manchin has cited rising inflation as one of his reasons.