The White House is seeking a stimulus package worth anywhere from $850 billion to over $1 trillion as the Trump administration looks to battle the economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a source familiar with the matter.
An administration official said the package could include:
- $500 billion to $550 billion in direct payments or tax cuts
- $200 billion to $300 billion in small business assistance
- $50 billion to $100 billion in airline and industry relief
Potentially $250 billion of the package could go toward making direct payments to Americans, a White House official told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said millionaires are unlikely to be among those who receive relief in the form of direct payment.
“Americans need cash now,” Mnuchin said during a White House press briefing on the administration’s latest efforts to combat the disease. “I mean now in the next two weeks.”
“The president has instructed me that we have to do this now,” Mnuchin added.
The White House will now have to negotiate a package with Congress. The measure will need to balance aiding individuals and workers in need, as well as industries it has already said it wants to support. The administration has made clear its view that the airline industry as essential. Trump and Mnuchin have also noted the cruise and hotel industries are facing particular challenges as travel has shut down.
Democrats, though, have made clear that any support to industries must come with significant support to workers. There has already been dispute in Congress about paid time-off in a second coronavirus relief bill, which has yet to pass the Senate.
“Any economic relief should be contingent on the benefits flowing to workers and their families, not CEOs and shareholders,” Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat, told CNBC.
Mnuchin said that an idea of the administration’s plan will come into focus by “the end of the day” Tuesday.
The latest daily briefing came as stocks struggled to recover from one of the worst trading sessions ever a day earlier.
Markets have shed trillions of dollars amid the coronavirus spread, which has crippled major industries and forced governments around the world to take drastic steps to try to slow transmission of the disease. States and cities have taken sweeping measures to reduce social interaction, including limiting restaurants to delivery and takeout services. Other businesses have had to lay off and furlough employees.
President Donald Trump said in Monday’s briefing that the U.S. may be able to get the new coronavirus outbreak under control by July or August at the earliest. Equities tanked as Trump delivered those remarks.
But major indexes rose during the coronavirus task force’s briefing Tuesday, as Trump and his officials signaled that the administration was mobilizing a major economic response that would go into effect soon.
“We’re going big,” Trump said at the presser. “We want to go big, go solid.”
“We don’t want airlines going out of business. We don’t people losing their jobs,” the president said.
More than 183,000 people have contracted the COVID-19 virus and at least 7,167 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., more than 5,000 people have caught the coronavirus and at least 85 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins.
Other U.S. politicians have already suggested sending checks to Americans as part of an economic relief package. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on Monday floated a proposal to give $1,000 to every American to ease the pain caused by the virus.
Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working to push through more emergency spending plans to respond to the virus. Trump signed an $8.3 billion funding package earlier in March, and a second bill is currently working its way through Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said Monday that he will put forth a third proposal with at least $750 billion in spending to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
— CNBC’s Christina Wilkie and Kayla Tausche contributed to this report.
