President Trump is strongly considering having the federal government send Americans emergency checks within two weeks as measures being taken to mitigate and suppress the Wuhan coronavirus COVED-19 outbreak are keeping them home from work.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said at a coronavirus task force press briefing at the White House Tuesday that sending checks now is considered to be more effective in the short run than a payroll tax holiday that is also being considered.
Video:
.@benstracy: "When you say a stimulus package for American workers, do you mean direct payments to Americans or a payroll tax holiday?"
Mnuchin: "…We're looking at sending checks to Americans immediately…Americans need cash now and the president wants to get cash now." pic.twitter.com/dQxS5IZjZb— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) March 17, 2020
While the figure of $1000 checks has been mentioned by the likes of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Mnuchin said the amount may be more.
Mnuchin also made other announcements regarding tax extensions and deferments, however he urged Americans due for refunds to file as soon as possible so they can get their returns processed and over-payments refunded quickly.
Politico reported Trump and Mnuchin will be consulting with Congress to seek to exempt high earners from the emergency checks.
“I think it’s clear we don’t need to send people who make $1 million a year checks,” Mnuchin said. “That’s one of the ideas that we like. We’re going to preview that today, and then we’ll be talking about details afterwards.”
President Donald Trump added that checks for everyone “may not be an accurate way of doing it because obviously some people shouldn’t be getting checks for $1,000.”
“We’ll have a pretty good idea by the end of the day what we’re gonna be doing,” he said.
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