On Monday, United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that President Donald Trump wants to give coronavirus relief funds for jobs and young children. However, Democrats have been less than willing to move forward with the proposal.
Coronavirus relief funds for kids
Mnuchin told reporters that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were not willing to negotiate the proposal in good faith. He added that despite both sides agreeing on several details of relief packages, Democrats hard-capped the funds they would allow to push through.
According to Fox Business, Mnuchin said that President Trump wanted to help more American children and job opportunities by providing additional funding. The official added that they would be working to bring the proposal a reality because it would greatly help United States citizens.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows previously said on Friday that Trump was willing to sign a $1.3 trillion bill which was made as a compromise from the previous $1 trillion legislation proposed by the president's administration.
The decision came while some Republicans continued to argue for fewer funds. On the other hand, Democrats continue to support their proposal of providing a relief bill worth about $2.2 trillion.
Mnuchin and Meadows stated that Pelosi did not provide details on what would be included in the proposal. Mnuchin added that if the $1 trillion bill is found to be insufficient, the US government could come back and reassess the nation's needs and file another proposal.
Earlier this month talks for a new coronavirus relief package collapsed due to disagreement between Republicans and Democrats for the amount of state and local funding as well as unemployment benefits.
Meadows revealed that Democrats have been unwilling to compromise on the proposed $915 billion worth of funding to be given to state and local governments. Despite Republicans and Democrats agreeing that a coronavirus relief package is a priority, the two sides have failed to agree on the specific details of the bill.
Additional support for families
In March, Mnuchin said that Trump planned to distribute $500 billion worth of payments to Americans, which would be given in two parts. The first part would be given to individuals and is worth $1,000 while the remaining would be split into $500 to be distributed to children, totaling to $3,000 for a family with four members, as reported by CNBC.
The official noted that if or when Congress passes the proposal, the government would be able to distribute the payments within three weeks. Mnuchin added if Trump declares that country is still in a state of national emergency after six weeks, the government will distribute an additional $3,000.
Mnuchin said that the government also planned to distribute $300 billion worth of funding to small businesses. He said that officials would be giving forgiving loans for employers who manage to keep paying their workers. The secretary added that another $200 billion would be given to the Federal Reserve and help airlines along with other critical industries severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
