Coronavirus: White House stimulus plan includes US$1,000 cash payments to Americans
- Cheques of US$1,000 to Americans are part of a Trump administration package reported to cost up to US$1 trillion
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says plan also includes three-month deferral of tax payments by both individuals and businesses
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it was proposing a US$1 trillion stimulus package to prop up the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak which includes cash payments to Americans.
In describing the proposal, which will be sent to Congress, Steven Mnuchin, the US Treasury Secretary, added that President Donald Trump hopes the measures would be rolled out “in the next two weeks”.
Speaking during the White House Covid-19 briefing and flanked by Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, Mnuchin said the administration would also allow a 90-day, penalty-free deferral of tax payments of up to US$1 million for individuals and US$10 million for companies.
Following late-night talks with Trump on Monday, Mnuchin said at the briefing that he now had a stimulus proposal that he would first put to Senate Republicans. Mnuchin said he would also be holding talks with the leaders of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
In the afternoon, Mnuchin told reporters on Capitol Hill that “we have put a proposal on the table that would inject US$1 trillion into the economy”.