There are a variety of reasons why. Here's What You Need To Remember: As some lawmakers continue to call for additional stimulus checks, the Boston Herald has done an investigation into how many of the existing checks remain unspent. As some lawmakers continue to call for additional stimulus checks, one newspaper has done an investigation into how many of the existing checks remain unspent. The Boston Herald reported Sunday that 1.24 million stimulus checks sent out under the CARES Act, over a year ago, remain unspent, including nearly 28,000 in the newspaper’s home state of Massachusetts. Those figures were obtained by the Herald via a Freedom of Information Act request, and do not apply to the checks from the late 2020 stimulus, or from the American Rescue Plan earlier this year.