Trump to seek $500 billion in direct payments to Americans as states struggle to find right response to COVID-19

By Dan McCaleb | The Center Square

Saying that “in a sense” he is “a wartime president,” President Donald Trump wants Congress to approve $500 billion in new spending to send money directly to American households reeling from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Details are still being worked out about how much each taxpayer would receive and who will be eligible, Trump said, but there’s bipartisan support for the effort.

The White House

President Donald Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force

The payments, according to the New York Times, would be sent in two waves. The first would be April 6, the second on May 18. The amount of each payment would be dependent on each family’s size and income.

The White House also wants Congress to approve $300 billion to help small businesses to pay their employees, $50 billion for airlines and $150 billion in loan guarantees to stabilize the economy.

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. and Canada will close their border to non-essential traffic to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

States, cities struggle with right approach to contain pandemic

With more than 6,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. and 112 deaths through Tuesday night, elected officials across the country are struggling to find the right approach to deal with the pandemic.

The San Francisco Bay area has taken the most extreme measures – the region is on virtual lockdown.

San Francisco and six surrounding counties are under an unprecedented “shelter-in-place” order. Residents are not to leave their homes for nonessential purposes. Nonessential businesses are to remain closed.

As of Tuesday night, the Bay area reported 356 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that originated in China in December.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that he was considering taking similar action in the nation’s largest city and warned residents and businesses to be prepared. A decision could come as soon as Wednesday or Thursday.

Schools in 39 states have been ordered closed temporarily. Other states, such as Texas, are allowing local districts to decide whether to close on their own.

Florida cancelled all remaining testing and Kansas ordered schools closed for the rest of the school year. The governors of California and Ohio strongly suggested their schools might not reopen either.

Governors in many U.S. states have barred dining in at restaurants and bars. Other states are taking a “social distancing” approach: a limited number of diners are allowed as long as they can remain at least six feet apart.

New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo has blamed the varying approaches to containing the coronavirus on the Trump administration, arguing there should be a unified federal standard.

Unemployment, meanwhile, is rising and the stock market is reeling.

President Donald Trump said the White House is working on a plan to send many Americans a check to help stabilize families and stimulate the economy, which is heading for a recession. Congress also is working on a relief package.

New York remains the worst affected state, with more than 1,600 cases as of Tuesday. Washington, with more than 1,000 cases, has seen the most deaths, with 54. California has confirmed about 600 cases.

Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, coughing and trouble breathing. Most people who have it develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually the elderly and those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal.

Image courtesy of The White House

6 thoughts on “Trump to seek $500 billion in direct payments to Americans as states struggle to find right response to COVID-19

  1. How many millions are spent for every person who “qualifies” for corona, but is treated like a common cold. $Billions, NOW $ Trillions – who’s counting NOBODY!?? Vermont is truly absurd – 100 people recouporating at home. 100,000?+ IN VT OUT OF WORK

  2. Mr President, I also say don’t do it. We can’t afford it. It’s going to get abused.

  3. I believe we need to help those that have lost there jobs from this “Wuhan Virus “, but as we
    all understand this will open ” pandora’s box” on wasting money on those that have NO need
    other than ” Free Money ” ……………..

    Another fleecing of America, paying for a lost job you never had !!

  4. Don’t fall for it Mr. President…..it’s a hoax. You were right in your initial assessment. We’ll know by the end of the week, but the numbers are NOT adding up.

    • I usually agree with you but I personally have lost much needed income along with millions of others. The situation has been created, the horses have left the barn. It no longer matters the who or why, if people don’t get help we will see devastation far beyond the disease. Those restaurants who employ tipped waiters and waitresses, bartenders cooks as an example have bills to pay. We can sort it out after. We give foreign aid by the billions to countries that hate us. The president is stepping up to help Americans, for a change.

      • We shouldn’t be closing anything! When I speak of the numbers I speak of the deaths from the Corona virus.

        The numbers for businesses will not add up either. $2,000 to a restaurant owner will not cover one week of expenses for a closed restaurant. We are all losing massive money on a complete ruse.

        The money we are given is nothing but a loan, we the people will have to pay it back. What they are doing is creating a recession, if they have their way and extend it, it will be a depression for no reason.

        This virus started in November, it’s been world spread for months, just like ALL the flu viruses, they just can’t test for this particular one, because they don’t have the test kits.

        However, the actual deaths by flu viruses, to which this is, are nothing out of the ordinary for the past 10 years.

        Our press is nothing but parrots. Our press is mostly propaganda.

        President is hopefully doing what he thinks is best, unfortunately he is being lied to, he is getting very, very bad advice. When Illhan Ohmar is praising you……perhaps a red flag should go up.

Comments are closed.