Over 1.2M Americans refuse to spend stimulus checks and California, Texas, and NY have most outstanding payments

AS lawmakers push for additional COVID-19 relief, over 1 million stimulus checks from the first round of aid have not been used.

The IRS said the checks could be uncashed because people did not accept them or have paid them back.

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The IRS said 1.24 million stimulus checks remain unspent as “people who either refused to accept, paid back or not cashed the stimulus checks they received from the IRS as a result of the CARES Act that was signed into law on March 27, 2020."

The Boston Herald published the staggering figure after tracking it down through a public records request.

California had the most unspent checks with 123,265, followed by Florida with 92,018.

Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania came next with 88,345, 72,988, and 72,252 unspent checks, respectively.

Some lawmakers have been pushing for additional stimulus funding since early on in the pandemic, asking for recurring stimulus checks on a monthly basis.

However, other states are taking the opposite approach, withdrawing from federal funding well before the September expiration date.

At least 24 states – notably, all with Republican governors – have opted out of federal COVID-19 relief, meaning those states will no longer send $300 per week to workers.

After April's job growth fell short of the one million new jobs the US economy was predicted to see, President Joe Biden warned that people must take a "reasonable job" if it is offered to them or else they may lose their relief benefits.

Census data indicates that most Americans are spending their stimulus money on food, utilities, and paying off loans.

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