$7.5 billion - weekly stimulus bounty
Treasury Department sends payments to another 9.7 million households. Total so far: $78.3 billion.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Treasury Department said Friday that it sent out 9.7 million economic stimulus checks this week, totaling $7.5 billion. Only two weeks remain until the majority of the stimulus payments are distributed, according to the Treasury Department.
Since April 28, the Treasury has distributed 94.85 million stimulus payments, totaling $78.3 billion, in the government's effort to revitalize the nation's slackening economy.
The government's stimulus effort is providing some relief for consumers. The Commerce Department said Friday that individual income shot up 1.9% in May as a result of $48.1 billion economic stimulus payments in the month.
The checks accounted for a huge 5.7% rise in disposable income, versus a 0.4% increase in the previous month. The Commerce Department also said personal spending by individuals rose 0.8% in May. When adjusted for inflation, personal income rose 5.3%, while personal spending rose 0.4%.
"The stimulus checks are kicking in," said Christian Menegatti, economist and lead analyst at RGE Monitor, an online economic research company. At the same time, however, consumers know that these checks are only a temporary boon, and consumer confidence reports prove that consumers are still doubtful.
According to the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers Report released on Friday, consumer confidence fell to a fifty year low. Richard Curtin, the director of the survey, said in a statement that consumers sited "surging gas prices, high food prices" as part of what is contributing to consumers' pessimism.
"The effects will fade away," said Menegatti. "Fundamentally, the economy still has all the problems that it had before the checks were sent out," he said.
The economy will continue to see benefit from the checks through June and July, according to Mengatti, but "without the support of housing wealth, there is no way that the US consumer will be able to maintain the level of consumption that it has in the past years" he said.
The stimulus program was enacted earlier this year in the wake of a slowdown tied to the credit crisis and the end of the housing boom.
The Treasury will distribute more than $110 billion to 130 million taxpayers by July. The first payments were made electronically, and nearly all of those were direct deposited into tax filers accounts by the fifth week of the campaign. By July 11, virtually all of the paper checks should be in the mail.
To qualify for a stimulus payment, individuals and households must file a 2007 income tax return. Single taxpayers with adjusted gross income of less than $75,000 last year will get checks of as much as $600. Joint filers with adjusted gross income of less than $150,000 were eligible for a rebate of up to $1,200.
In addition, parents will also receive $300 per child under 17; there is no cap on the number of qualifying children eligible. 
