Mnuchin says it's 'too early to tell' if American families need another stimulus check

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is happy to extend more money to American businesses. He's a little more hesitant when it comes to American families.

In a Thursday press conference, Mnuchin announced the federal government was working on a fourth iteration of its CARES Act meant to stimulate the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. That next round of funding will be "more targeted" than the stimulus bills of the past few months, with $130 billion in remaining congressional funding specifically going to businesses that were "particularly hard hit" in the pandemic, Mnuchin said.

But Mnuchin said it was "still too early to tell" if Americans need a second round of stimulus checks, despite it being nearly four months since the coronavirus pandemic started putting people out of work.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Thursday's announcement came after a jobs report showed the U.S. added 4.8 million jobs in June, with the unemployment rate declining to 11.1 percent. But the report stems from data collected before COVID-19 case numbers began spiking again in several states, leading many businesses to shut down once again and possibly stunt job recovery.