Support for giving Americans money to help them get through the coronavirus crisis appears to be growing in Washington, D.C.
During a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that President Donald Trump’s administration had put together a stimulus package that includes sending Americans checks to help offset financial pains that stem from mitigation efforts aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The stimulus package will be presented to Senate Republicans later in the day.
Additionally, Mnuchin said he would lay out the details of the proposal later in the day, “We have an entire package that we’ll be laying out those details today.”
He added that while Trump favors a payroll tax cut, “We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately.” By “immediately,” Mnuchin said he was considering sending the checks to Americans within the next two weeks.
“Americans need cash now,” he added.
Mnuchin said of why the administration feels the need to send the checks to Americans now, “This is no fault to American workers. For medical reasons, we are shutting down parts of this economy.”
Trump also said that he is still looking at a payroll tax cut, but admitted that it would take months for Americans to see a significant benefit from such a move and noted, “We don’t really have months.” He noted that there are other methods in mind.
Watch the press conference below:
The idea of directly sending Americans relief appeared to be gaining steam when Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) joined a growing chorus of calls to give lower and middle-class Americans cash to help to pay for necessary expenses.
In a blog post on Medium on Monday, Cotton called for Congress to “cut out employers as the middlemen” to expedite the relief funds for millions of Americans.
It read:
“Let’s cut out employers as the middlemen and get relief to people not in weeks but in days. […] We should send relief directly to American families most likely to be in need — those in the bottom and middle tax bracket.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) also proposed on Monday that the government send Americans a $1,000 check to help them meet their needs.
Other lawmakers such as Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) have also proposed sending Americans money to help ease their financial burdens in the coming weeks and months.