President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the administration was going to seek to cut payroll taxes and provide economic relief to hourly employees who suffer economic harm from the coronavirus, which originated in China.
“We are going to take care of and have been taking care of the American public and the American economy,” Trump said. “We are going to be asking tomorrow, we’re seeing the Senate, we’re going to be meeting with House Republicans, Mitch McConnell, everybody, and discussing a possible payroll tax cut or relief, substantial relief, very substantial relief, that’s a big number.”
“We’re also going to be talking about hourly wage earners getting help so that they can be in a position where they’re not ever going to miss a paycheck,” Trump continued. “We’re going to be working with companies and small companies, large companies, lot of companies, so they don’t get penalized for something that is not their fault, it’s not their fault.”
“It’s not our country’s fault,” Trump continued. “This was something that we were thrown into and we’re going to handle it and we have been handling it very well.”
“The big decision was early when we shut down our borders, we were the first ones ever to do that, we’ve never done that in our country before,” Trump continued. “We would have a situation that would be a lot more dire.”
“Also, we’re going to be seeing Small Business Administration and creating loans for small businesses,” Trump continued. “We’re also working with the industries, including the airline industry, the cruise ship industry, which will obviously will be hit. … We’re also talking with the hotel industry and some places will do well and some places won’t do well at all, but we’re working also with the hotel industry.”
“But the main thing is we are taking care of the American public and we will be taking care of the American public and I really appreciate the professionals behind me,” Trump concluded. “We have a tremendous team and it’s headed up by our great Vice President Mike Pence and I want to thank Mike because he’s been working 24 hours a day.”
President Trump says he will press lawmakers to enact a payroll tax cut and ensure assistance is available to hourly workers amid the coronavirus pandemic that's caused deep economic concerns and stock market shock. https://t.co/Frn4IBmN9r pic.twitter.com/HACb0Vb88S
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) March 9, 2020
The Washington Post reported that Trump was presented a list of policy options from his top advisers to respond to any economic impact from the coronavirus.
“The list presented to Trump included deferring taxes on specific industries hit by the coronavirus downturn, such as the hospitality and travel industries, as well as a ‘cashflow injection’ for small businesses through the Small Business Administration,” The Post reported. “Many of the ideas would likely require congressional approval and it is not clear to what extent they would be supported on a bipartisan basis.”