The economic stimulus package to fight damage from the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic under consideration by the White House includes a proposal to send two $1,000 checks to certain Americans, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Checks would be sent to Americans below a certain income level, although it is not yet clear what that level will be. The Trump administration’s stimulus currently calls for $500 billion in cash payments, with another $500 billion for various businesses including $50 million for the airline industry, which has been particularly hurt by the pandemic.
Senate Democrats proposed a $750 million stimulus package on Monday, while on Tuesday the Trump administration floated an $850 million stimulus. Talks between administration officials and Congress are ongoing, with the current proposal amounting to an injection of $1 trillion into the U.S. economy.
Republican senators have called for immediate assistance to Americans affected by the pandemic, although the specifics of the assistance are still being debated.
“Direct assistance to working people is a good start, but FAMILIES with kids need more relief,” Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) wrote on Twitter in comment on the Post‘s report. “A working single mom with three kids needs more support than an unmarried computer programmer living in his parents’ basement. Help families.”
Hawley has called for monthly payments to working families below a certain income bracket, with payments gradated based on family size and married or single-parent status. Senators Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Mitt Romney (R., Utah) have each called for direct cash payments of a fixed amount.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has repeatedly stressed the importance of getting cash directly to Americans who need it.
“Americans need cash now and the president wants to get cash now. And I mean now, in the next two weeks,” Mnuchin said at a White House press conference on Tuesday.