According to Associated Press sources, the White House is proposing a huge stimulus bill to the tune of $850 billion over the coronavirus:
AP – The White House is proposing a roughly $850 billion emergency economic rescue package Tuesday for businesses and taxpayers amid the coronavirus crisis, a sweeping stimulus package unseen since the Great Recession.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will outline the package to Senate Republicans at a private lunch, with officials aiming to have Congress approve it this week. It provide relief for small businesses and the airline industry and include a massive tax cut for wage-earners.
Two people familiar with the request described it to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Not only are the proposing this huge stimulus bill, but they want it to pass this week if possible:
The White House hopes the measure will pass quickly, possibly this week, an enormous political undertaking as the administration scrambled to contain the economic fallout of the severe disruptions to American life from the outbreak.
White House officials offered senators a preliminary briefing late Monday at the Capitol, saying they want the plan approved by Congress as soon as possible, suggesting in a matter of days.
“ASAP,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said late Monday. “There’s an urgency.”
The rush to inject cash and resources into the economy is an effort unlike any since the 2008 economic crisis, with political and economic interventions and eye-popping sums to try to protect Americans from the health and financial fallout.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do from here,” Mnuchin told reporters late Monday.
At the same time, Democrats have proposed their own $750 billion package.
Trump has already signed an 8 billion dollar funding bill earlier this month for the coronavirus. And there’s the bill that just passed the House this weekend (and yesterday) that has an unknown amount of emergency funding.
Now it appears they are swinging for the fences, just like Obama did back in 2009 with his trillion dollar stimulus, of which many on the right were heavily critical. So the question is will Republican Senators even entertain a bill with such a high price tag? Or will the Trump administration be depending on Democrat Senators with a few Republicans to get the bill passed?