Mnuchin: Americans Can Expect Stimulus Checks Within 3 Weeks

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks with reporters outside White House in Washington, DC, on March 13, 2020. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other White House economic officials told reporters Sunday that Americans can expect checks from the massive $2 trillion stimulus bill to be deposited in their accounts within three weeks.

Mnuchin told reporters that his “number one objective is now delivering to the American workers and American companies the needed money that will put this economy in a position where it gets through the next eight to 10 weeks.”

Congress passed the stimulus bill, which will deliver $1,200 to many Americans and $500 for each child, last week as unemployment claims surge and businesses are closed amid the CCP virus pandemic.

The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China before it was transmitted worldwide.

Mnuchin said there will be a website-based application for Americans who don’t get a direct deposit, CNN reported. He also told small businesses: “Go back and hire your workers because the government is paying you to do that.”

The direct cash payments will begin phasing out for individuals with adjusted gross incomes of more than $75,000.

Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, told ABC News on Sunday that loans to small businesses will be “ready for processing” this coming week.

And “the direct checks [to Americans] will come out probably in two weeks I believe Secretary [Steven] Mnuchin is saying,” he said.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow talks to media outside the White House in Washington on Sept. 26, 2019. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

“The loans to small businesses will be ready for processing this coming week, this coming Friday,” Kudlow continued. “So we will have rapid speed, much faster than has been done in the past with these things and so we will get it into the people’s hands right away.”

Mnuchin, who has been the lead White House negotiator on the stimulus package, told “Fox News Sunday” that he believes the U.S. economy will rebound after the virus subsides.

He was asked about whether the unemployment rate could reach 20 percent or more.

“It’s hard to predict these numbers because we’ve never had anything like this where we shut down the U.S. economy for medical reasons,” Mnuchin told the network. “The economy was in very, very good health when we shut it down, and let me just say, we’re very sympathetic to the people who don’t have jobs, and that’s why the president was very clear he wanted me to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis quickly to support those people.”