Associated Press
White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow talks with reporters about economic impacts of the coronavirus, at the White House, Tuesday, March 24, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
- President Donald Trump's top economic officials said relief checks will be disbursed to qualifying Americans in a few weeks.
- Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, said loans to small businesses will be "ready for processing" this coming week.
- As the administration rolls out new economic measures in its novel coronavirus pandemic response, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that he believes the stimulus program will be "enormously successful in stabilizing the US economy."
- The $2 trillion bill was signed by the president after more than 3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits as isolation measures announced in cities and states across the country sparked a massive wave of layoffs.
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President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday that American can expect direct relief checks in their bank accounts in "a couple of weeks" as the administration rolls out new economic measures in its novel coronavirus pandemic response.
"The direct checks will come out probably in two weeks I believe Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin is saying," Kudlow said when pressed by ABC's "This Week" anchor Martha Raddatz about the timing "given the infrastructure, that much money, that number of checks."
"The loans to small businesses will be ready for processing this coming week, this coming Friday," Kudlow continued. "So we will have rapid speed, much faster than has been done in the past with these things and so we will get it into the people's hands right away."
Kudlow, who added that "there will be no evictions during this period," said that officials have "tried to cover every single base" in "the biggest assistance package in history" that the president signed last week to assist Americans affected by the pandemic.
"It may not be perfect, but I think it's going to give a tremendous amount of resources to get us through what we still believe is going to be a question of weeks and months," Kudlow said of the $2 trillion relief bill.
Kudlow echoed Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, who on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday, said that the relief money will be distributed through direct deposit information saved with the IRS, or through an online platform.
"We expect that within three weeks, that people who have direct deposit with information with us will see those direct deposits into their bank accounts, and we will create a web-based system for people where we don't have their direct deposit, they can upload it so that they can get the money immediately as opposed to checks in the mail," Mnuchin said.
The bill contains around $560 billion in assistance to 175 million individual residents, plus around $370 billion in small business loans.
One-time payments will give $1,200 to individuals making up to $75,000 a year and $2,400 to married couples without children making up to $150,000. Families will also receive an additional $500 for each applicable child.
More than 3 million people applied for unemployment benefits between March 15 and 22 as isolation measures announced in cities and states across the country sparked a massive wave of layoffs.
Mnuchin said on CBS that he believes the stimulus program will be "enormously successful in stabilizing the US economy" by assisting those who lost jobs in the pandemic.
"This money is going to go into the economy very quickly. It is going to help American workers very, very quickly," he said. "I don't know how long it's going to take to kill this virus. I do know we will kill this virus, and when we do, I have great confidence that the US economy will come roaring back."
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Asked whether stimulus checks will be sufficient given soaring unemployment, Larry Kudlow tells @MarthaRaddatz: "We think it will be enough."
"It's hard to know if we can help everybody, but... we are putting in whatever it takes." https://t.co/D7q2PhzvDd pic.twitter.com/u8bJdHNGSh
- This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 29, 2020