Evan Vucci/AP
President Donald Trump holds up a pen after signing a proclamation for a national day of prayer to occur on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Sept. 1, 2017, in Washington.
- President Donald Trump's name will be printed on the tens of millions of stimulus checks being mailed out to Americans in the coming days, according to The Washington Post.
- Senior officials at the Internal Revenue Service told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the decision was finalized late Monday.
- Two senior IRS officials told The Post that the decision to print Trump's names on the checks will likely lead to a delay in mailing out the checks.
- The move stands in conflict with decisions made by the IRS in the past, as there are laws in place to ensure that the federal agency operates without political bias.
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President Donald Trump's name will reportedly be printed on the tens of millions of stimulus checks being mailed out to Americans in the coming days, an unprecedented move that is being perceived by some as politically motivated.
Senior officials at the Internal Revenue Service told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the decision was finalized late Monday. According to The Post, payments being mailed out to over 70 million Americans in the coming days will say "President Donald J. Trump" on the left side of the check, below a line that reads, "Economic Impact Payment."
The move stands in conflict with decisions made by the IRS in the past, as there are laws in place to ensure that the federal agency operates without political bias. According to The Post, it will be the first time that a president's name will be associated with an IRS reimbursement.
"The checks provide Trump with a new form of retail politics," The Post writes. "A check provides a touchable, bread-and-butter symbol to taxpayers right in their mailboxes."
The stimulus checks are part of Congress's $2 trillion economic relief bill, which directs the IRS to deliver one-time payments of up to $1,200 to qualifying Americans. Many Americans will receive the money in the form of a direct deposit into their bank accounts, while others will receive paper checks in the mail if they don't provide the IRS with their bank details.
Three administration officials told The Post that Trump had suggested to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that he should be allowed to formally sign the stimulus checks. Instead, the checks will be signed by an official of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the report said.
Two senior IRS officials told The Post that the decision to print Trump's names on the checks will likely lead to a delay in mailing out the checks, which are set to be sent to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service on Thursday.
A Treasury Department representative told The Post that there would be "absolutely no delay" in mailing out the checks as planned.
"Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned - there is absolutely no delay whatsoever," the representative told The Post. "In fact, we expect the first checks to be in the mail early next week," she said, claiming that the checks will be mailed out "well in advance" compared to when George W. Bush's administration mailed out stimulus checks in 2008 ahead of the recession.
Representatives for the Treasury Department and the IRS did not immediately respond to Business Insider for comment.
The coronavirus economic relief bill is the largest stimulus package ever passed in American history. Millions of people have filed for unemployment in the past several weeks as the country faces a huge economic downturn due to the coronavirus spread. As of Tuesday evening, the US has reported over 600,000 coronavirus cases and more than 25,000 deaths.
As part of the relief bill, called the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, states and municipal governments are also supposed to receive $150 billion in additional federal funding. Nearly half of the bill's aid is set aside for business loans.
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