Trump administration officials are working with congressional Republicans on an emergency COVID-19 cornoavirus stimulus package that could send a total of $2,000 via two $1,000 checks to many Americans and also devote $300 billion towards helping small businesses avoid mass layoffs, The Washington Post is reporting, citing “two senior administration officials and a Treasury Department fact sheet.”
Erica Werner, Jeff Stein, and Mike DeBonis for The Washington Post:
The Treasury Department is circulating a two-page sheet of priorities that it wants to see in the final deal, which includes a $50 billion “airline industry secured lending facility” that would allow it to make direct loans to “U.S. passenger and cargo air carriers.” Treasury would determine the interest rates and other terms of any loans, but they would include limits “on increases in executive compensation until repayment of the loans.”
The White House will still need backing from Democrats before any plan can be pushed into law, but many Democrats have said they would support sending cash payments to Americans who are struggling to pay bills because of the virus’s economic impact. Still, multiple levels of negotiations remain. The senior administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity because talks remain ongoing… The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency took steps to halt all foreclosures in the United States for a period of time.
The new $1 trillion Trump plan would seek to spend $500 billion towards the cash payments to individual Americans, though some people wouldn’t qualify if their income is over a certain level. The Treasury Department outline says the funds would be paid out in two equal amounts, beginning on April 6 and then again on May 18.
[U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell (R-Ky.) pledged Wednesday that the Senate would stay in session until the legislation is complete. He is aiming to reach agreement with the administration, then commence negotiations with Democrats. “The Congress has an enormous role to play in responding to this challenge. We are determined to do that duty,” McConnell said.
MacDailyNews Take: Now the Trump administration coronavirus stimulus figures are becoming clearer, as massive as they are. Again, those who need it, need it. Those who don’t should consider donating to a charity such as a local food bank to help those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, some will spend it on a new MacBook Air (working from home), a new Mac mini, a new iPad Pro, other Apple products, or other products/services that will help the economy recover.
More info on the Prevention & Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) via the U.S. CDC is here. Track the Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) here.
Quoting another post I saw on MDN yesterday…
“All who have said “Trump isn’t my President” must return their checks.” Haha! Good one!
Welcome to full fledged socialism.
Trump wanted payroll tax cuts. Because that helps the newly unemployed… somehow.
It’s a ploy to further rob funds from Social Security. The GOP has no scruples, they have been trying to make SS fail for decades.
Instead of trying to squeeze blood from a turnip, to provide more liquidity to businesses, they should enable inter-corporate direct loans. For every airline that is running out of cash, there’s an Apple that it sitting on piles of capital So much they were wasting it on stock buybacks when the market was near peak. Cut out the middlemen and banks, just enable cash repatriation via tax free repatriation.