Mnuchin Sees Most of the US Economy Reopening by the End of August

Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin in a file photograph in Washington on Feb. 27, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday the White House is expecting to reopen most of the United States by the end of August.

The U.S. economy has been pushed into a deep recession, coupled with millions of job losses, after nationwide business closures and stay-at-home mandates in dozens of states. Now, state and federal officials are eyeing when businesses can reopen, and some have even announced dates.

“We’re operating under the environment that we are going to open up parts of the economy,” Mnuchin told Fox News, adding that August is the target date. “We’re looking forward to, by the time we get later to the summer, having most of, if not all of, the economy open.”

The House of Representatives on Thursday is set to pass another $484 billion in relief funding following its passage by the Senate on Tuesday, adding to the $2.2 trillion pandemic package that was signed into law in March. Most of those funds will be used to aid small businesses.

Mnuchin told Fox that small businesses will ultimately have access to more than $600 billion in relief assistance.

“The cost of carrying the debt to the American taxpayer is quite low,” Mnuchin said, adding that “we’re all sensitive to that this a war and we need to win this war and we need to spend what it takes to win the war.”

“On the other hand,” he said, “we are sensitive to the economic impact of putting on debt and that’s something that the president is reviewing with us very carefully.”