Mnuchin calls on Senate Democrats to approve economic package today

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Monday that Senate Democrats must drop their objections to a nearly $2 trillion economic relief package before midnight to help businesses and workers hurt by the coronavirus outbreak.

“We need to pass this today,” Mr. Mnuchin told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. “We are working round the clock today to make sure the Senate passes this today.”
He rejected Democrats’ complaints that $500 billion in the bill to help corporations amounts to a “slush fund” to bail out big companies.

“This isn’t corporate welfare,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “This helps all American workers. There’s enormous bipartisan support for this. We’re using all the tools we have, and we’ve told Congress, we need additional tools ASAP.”

He said the measure will complement a series of emergency actions by the Federal Reserve to pump more cash and credit into financial markets and businesses.

“This legislation is now approximately $2 trillion,” he said. “Part of that is $500 billion, which is not a slush fund — that we can use in working with the Federal Reserve that will provide another $4 trillion of potential liquidity into the market. That’s on top of the Fed’s balance sheet.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled another vote for Monday on the measure, after all Democrats voted against proceeding with the bill on Sunday evening. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said the measure doesn’t provide relief for hospitals or localities.

Mr. Mnuchin said the bill provides Small Business Administration loans for any business with 500 or fewer employees to cover two months of payroll and “some overhead.” He said if companies hire back their workers, “the government will forgive that loan.”

Asked if the president is considering a nationwide shutdown, Mr. Mnuchin replied, “The president will decide. The president has not made that decision. The president is hopeful that the policies and procedures put in place will kill this virus quickly.”

Mr. Mnuchin, who was meeting again with Senate leaders on Monday morning, said it’s possible the administration would come back to Congress for another rescue package before summer.

“This legislation prepares us for what I would say the 10- to 12-week period,” he said. “But I hope that we don’t need to last that long. And for whatever reason [if] this turns out that it’s going to last longer, we’ll go back to Congress.”