White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow announced during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon that the Trump administration intends to sign the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history to combat the fallout from the coronavirus, which originated in China.
“This package will be the single largest main street assistance program in the history of the United States,” Kudlow said. “The single largest main street assistance program in the history of the United States.”
“This legislation is urgently needed to bolster the economy, provide cash injections and liquidity and stabilize financial markets to get us through a difficult period, a difficult and challenging period in the economy facing us right now but also to position us for what I think can be an economic rebound later this year,” Kudlow continued. “Phase two delivered the sick leave for individuals, hourly workers, families and so forth. Phase three, a significant package for small businesses, loan guarantees will be included. We’re going to take out expenses and lost revenues.”
“A strong work force requires a strong business,” Kudlow continued. “You can’t have a job without a business to work for. And the hope here is that the companies that are operating very at the beginning of the year when the economy was in good shape, we will help them and their employees get through this tough period so they will come out the other side, say later this spring or summer, and will continue their operations. That’s the key point.”
“The total package here comes to roughly $6 trillion: $2 trillion direct assistance, roughly $4 trillion in federal reserve lending power,” Kudlow added. “Again, it will be the largest main street financial package in the history of the United States.”
Kudlow said that the stimulus provides “liquidity and cash for families, small business, individuals, [and the] unemployed to keep this thing going.”
WATCH:
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow announces that the @realdonaldtrump administration will pass the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus that came from China. pic.twitter.com/CU86NCrwwl
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 24, 2020
Fox News editor Gregg Re noted that Trump struck a magnanimous tone during the press conference on Congress’s work to get a stimulus bill put together.
“I also want to thank Congress, because whether or not we’re happy that they haven’t quite gotten there yet, they have been working long hours,” Trump said. “I’m talking Republicans and Democrats, all of them, the House, the Senate. I want to thank Congress because they are really trying to get there, and I think they will.”
The announcement came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ruined a deal on Sunday that both sides were apparently close to agreeing on.
“The fate of a sweeping government rescue package to prop up an economy devastated by the coronavirus pandemic was in limbo on Sunday after Democrats blocked action in the Senate,” The New York Times reported over the weekend. “The 47-47 vote was a stunning setback for a package that was emerging as the largest economic stimulus measure in modern American history – now expected to cost $1.8 trillion or more.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that it was Pelosi who was responsible for ruining the deal.
“Now I changed my vote which gives me the opportunity to move to reconsider at a later time. That’s all I can do in the face of this obstruction. Look, I can understand obstruction when you’re trying to achieve something,” McConnell continued. “This obstruction achieves nothing. Nothing whatsoever other than prevent us from getting into a position where there are literally 30 more hours that they could use to continue to dicker. So at a time when the country is crying out for bipartisanship and cooperation — and we saw that over the last 48 hours when regular members of Senate, not in the leadership office, not in the speaker’s office for goodness sakes, she’s the Speaker of the House, not the speaker of the Senate. We don’t have one. We were doing just fine until that intervention.”