Trump to seek Congress nod for $1.2 trillion in extra stimulus

WASHINGTON • The Trump administration is preparing to ask Congress to infuse about US$850 billion (S$1.2 trillion) in additional stimulus to prop up the economy, which is facing a deep downturn as businesses shutter amid the coronavirus pandemic.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was expected yesterday to pitch Republican senators on the administration's request for additional fiscal firepower, the centrepiece of which is the payroll tax cut that President Donald Trump has been calling for, according to people familiar with the plans.

At a luncheon in the Capitol, he also intends to make the case for senators to embrace a narrower relief package the House passed last week that includes paid leave, unemployment insurance, free coronavirus testing and additional food and healthcare aid.

Some Republican senators have been reluctant to accept that Bill.

The Trump administration is also supporting a request for US$50 billion in economic relief for the airline industry as part of the broader package.

The industry's lobbying group publicly made the request on Monday, asking for grants, loan guarantees and tax relief.

The administration is also considering ways to support the cruise ship industry.

Widespread travel restrictions are throttling both industries and are expected to be a major drag on global economic growth.

Economists at Capital Economics predicted that tourism worldwide could be cut by half over the next six weeks, sapping 0.7 percentage points from the world's annual gross domestic product.

The proposal is emerging amid a growing sense of urgency among lawmakers to step in with aggressive measures to staunch the economic pain wrought by the pandemic, and mounting anxiety that Congress is running out of time to do so.

With public health officials counselling significant measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and states and cities ordering businesses to close, limitations on travel and other restrictions on movement, it is not clear how long lawmakers will be able to continue gathering in Washington.

Republican senators have also been coming up with their own stimulus proposals.

Senator Mitt Romney said this week that every adult American should receive a US$1,000 cheque from the government to help boost spending in the economy.

A group of Democratic senators, led by Mr Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mr Cory Booker of New Jersey and Mr Sherrod Brown of Ohio, is pushing Congress to send as much as US$4,500 to nearly every adult and child in the United States this year, as part of a sustained government income-support programme to counter the economic slowdown from the coronavirus.

Mr Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, laid out the administration's fiscal stimulus approach on Monday and said that it would amount to about US$800 billion, a figure that did not include relief for the airline industry.

Mr Kudlow and Mr Mnuchin are also considering an array of other proposals to help individuals and small and mid-sized businesses, which are facing cash-flow problems.

NYTIMES