Trump’s economic aid could approach $1T, senators say
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is asking Congress to unleash a torrent of emergency economic aid — including direct checks to Americans — in an extraordinary effort to shore up households and the economy in the coronavirus crisis.
As part of a proposed economic rescue not seen
since the Great Recession in 2008, Trump wants checks sent to the
public within two weeks as part of a package that officials said could
approach a cost of $1 trillion. Congressional leaders vowed swift
action. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appeared on Capitol Hill to
brief Senate Republicans as state and local officials acted more forcefully to restrict gatherings and mobility in the face of growing sickness.
“We want to go big,” Trump said at a White House briefing. “We want to get it done and have a big infusion.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised the Senate would not adjourn until the package was passed.
“Obviously, we need to act,” McConnell said after meeting White House officials at the Capitol.
But
first, McConnell said, the Senate will vote on the House’s $100 billion
package of sick pay, emergency food and free testing that’s on track
for Trump’s signature — a sign of how difficult it will be for Congress
to consider the new, bigger effort.
Senators gathered as
Americans across the country were implored to heed advice and avoid
crowds. Even so, presidential primary elections unfolded in Florida,
Illinois and Arizona. Ohio’s was called off hours before the polls were
set to open.
After a savage drop at the start of the week, the
stock market rose during Trump’s briefing as he and aides sketched out
elements of the economic rescue package.
Bigger than the 2008 bank
bailout or the 2009 recovery act, the White House proposal aims to
provide a massive tax cut for wage-earners, $50 billion for the airline
industry and $250 billion for small businesses.
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.
“”This is a very unique situation,” said Mnuchin,
exiting a briefing of Senate Republicans. “We’ve put a proposal on that
table that would attract a trillion dollars into the economy.” One GOP
leader, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, told reporters afterward it
“could be” up to $1 trillion.
“A lot of our members believe that we need to be bold and big,” Thune said.
Senate
Democrats produced their own $750 billion proposal, which includes $400
billion to shore up hospitals and other emergency operations in
response to the global pandemic and $350 billion to bolster the safety
net with unemployment checks and other aid to Americans.
“The aid
has to be workers first,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, not
what happened in 2008, when the big banks took precedence. Schumer also
said it’s time to call out the National Guard to provide security as
communities reel from the crisis.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio
of Oregon, spoke by phone with Mnuchin in the morning. The Democrats
“emphasized that protecting workers’ paychecks and benefits was their
top priority, and that immediate action was needed,” said Drew Hammill,
Pelosi’s spokesman.
Congress was being asked to approve the most far-reaching economic rescue package since the Great Recession .
It’s
an enormous political and economic undertaking as a slow-moving
Congress tries to rise to the occasion of these fast times.
“There’s great spirit” among lawmakers, Trump said. “I can say that for Republicans and Democrats.”
The
debate is sure to revive the sharp divisions over the costly bank
bailout and economic recovery of the Obama and Bush era. Particularly
striking is McConnell’s urgency after having adjourned the Senate over
the weekend while Pelosi muscled through an aid package.
Some GOP
senators were skeptical about the massive aid on the table. “I’m going
to be very leery of doing something like in 2008,” said Indiana
Republican Sen. Mike Braun.
But the other senator from Indiana,
Todd Young, chairman of the Republican Senate campaign committee, said
he was open to approving $1,000 checks and wants aid out the door as as
soon as possible. He noted the sudden change of American life, and said
he was the only passenger on his flight back to Washington.
Angry
senators from both parties boarded planes returning to a changed
Washington, as Trump declared a state of emergency, the virus spread and
the economic free-fall worsened. Despite federal guidelines against so
many people gathering, senators had no choice but to convene.
Legislating cannot be done from home. The House is on a recess.
The
White House hopes the measure will pass quickly, possibly this week, as
the administration scrambled to contain the economic fallout of the
outbreak.
The new proposal is beyond the House’s estimated $100 billion aid package of sick pay, emergency food aid and free virus testing that was approved over the weekend and is pending before the Senate.
Now Congress will be rushing to pass two measures or combine them into one, altogether a sweeping response.
Muscling
the aid will test Congress and the White House at a pivotal moment in
the crisis and in an election year when the two parties have vastly
different outlooks on the best way to prop up the economy and help
Americans.
All sides — the House, Senate and White House — agree more federal resources are needed to handle what’s coming.
At
the start of the month, Congress approved $8.3 billion in initial aid.
Trump quickly signed into law the measure, which provided federal
agencies money for vaccines, tests and potential treatments, and funding
to help state and local governments respond to the threat.
During
the recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
passed in February of that year, had an initial price tag of $787
billion which was revised later to $831 billion. That was under Barack
Obama.
The Tarp passed in the fall of 2008 to help troubled banks
had a price tag of $700 billion. It was put together by the George W.
Bush administration, and provided money for the auto bailouts for
General Motors and Chrysler. All of that money for the banks and the
auto companies was paid back.
Now, Republicans often reluctant to
spend federal dollars did not flinch at the head-spinning number, as a
roster of America’s big and small industries — airlines, hotels,
retailers — lined up for aid.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, called
for sending $1,000 to every adult American — an idea the White House
said it likes, though not necessarily that sum and not to wealthier
people.
Industries representing a broad swath of the economy are
seeking help in withstanding the fallout as schools close and Americans
are being told they should stay inside, skip nonessential travel and
avoid gatherings with 10 people or more.
That means no dining
out, no boarding planes, no shopping the malls as a great national
shutdown sparks business closures, layoffs and lost paychecks for rents,
mortgages and everyday needs.
The nation’s largest business
organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, asked the Trump
administration and Congress on Monday to act rapidly to help companies
have access to cash and avert a “potentially devastating” hit to the economy.
For
most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms,
such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people
with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness,
including pneumonia.
The vast majority of people recover from the
new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild
illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe
illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly, Martin Crutsinger, Colleen Long and Kevin Freking in Washington, Philip Marcelo in Boston and David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report. The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.