White House coronavirus stimulus package could top $1 trillion, Mnuchin confirms


The White House is pushing a $1 trillion response to the coronavirus pandemic.
After reports indicated that the White House's COVID-19 economic stimulus package could top $1 trillion, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that price tag on Tuesday. "We have put a proposal on the table that would inject a trillion into the economy," Mnuchin said after a meeting encouraging Senate Republicans to back the plan, though he was light on its actual details.
Mnuchin said earlier Tuesday that he would pitch senators on an $850 billion plan, and that it would include tax cuts and economic relief for both small businesses and the airline industry. The $1 trillion possibility, Mnuchin said after that actual meeting, would also include "a combination of loans" and "direct checks to individuals." An administration official told CNBC that $500–550 billion would be dedicated to direct payments and tax cuts for individual Americans, $200–300 billion would go to small businesses, and $50–100 billion would be allotted for airline relief.
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Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday he'd bring the House's coronavirus spending package to a vote very soon. He encouraged even Republicans who don't like the bill to "gag and vote for it anyway," and said the rest of the GOP's priorities will come in a separate "phase three" proposal.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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