DON: ‘WE’RE GOING TO WIN’ FAST
Prez pushes $850B rescue plan
President Trump vowed to beat the coronavirus crisis Tuesday and announced a dramatic new fiscal stimulus including a proposal for at least $850 billion to rescue the teetering economy and offer relief for small businesses, the airline industry, and sizable checks for American workers.
He also acknowledged that “it could be” true that there is a 100% chance of recession, as suggested by some economists.
“One day we’ll be standing up here and say: ‘Well, we won,’ ” Trump said. “As sure as you’re sitting there, we’re going to say that and we’re going to win. And I think we’re going to win faster than people think.”
Trump offered his support for massive financial measures to help American companies and workers facing huge dislocation from the pandemic including the concept of direct aid to Americans like the $1,000 checks to all adults that some are suggesting.
“We’re going to do something big,” Trump said. “We want to go big.”
Officials said Americans can delay paying their taxes for months without incurring penalties or interest.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said he is negotiating with congressional leaders for a program that could top $1 trillion and would immediately put money in cashstrapped Americans’ pockets.
“Americans need cash now, and the president wants to get [them] cash now,” Mnuchin said. “And I mean now, in the next two weeks.”
Some Democrats criticized Mnuchin for dramatically scaling back a paid sick leave provision for workers during the coronavirus crisis.
For a second straight day, Trump sought to portray a serious and somber tone. He repeatedly praised governors and noted that “both Democrats and Republicans” deserve credit for working together.
“I want to be bipartisan,”
he said. “Nobody is going to be better than me.”
He asserted that he only derides his political rivals like Democratic governors or presidential candidates when they attack him. He called the recent Democratic presidential debate between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders “not very exciting.”
“I only do that when I have to respond,” he said. “I will continue to do that. If they’re not going to play fair.”
Trump earlier spent weeks downplaying the threat posed by the virus and bitterly deriding political rivals. He gave himself a perfect “10” for handling the crisis.
The president denied that he was jolted into action by a doomsday academic prediction over the weekend that more than 2 million Americans
could die from coronavirus.
Trump claimed he has always known the seriousness of the crisis, even though he called coronavirus a “hoax” and repeatedly suggested it would soon be wiped out in the U.S.
“It’s a pandemic,” Trump said Tuesday. “I’ve always viewed it as very seriously.”
Despite the change in tone, Trump repeatedly avoided ordering actions that could help prepare for the possibility that hospitals might be overwhelmed with patients, like what has happened in Italy.
He said the feds were “looking at” ordering the Army Corps of Engineers to start building a temporary hospital facility.
Trump also sounded a lessthan-urgent note about supplies of medical equipment like ventilators and protective equipment like gloves and masks. Doctors say supplies are fast dwindling and could disappear soon, when and if the number of coronavirus patients skyrockets.
The president reiterated that states are free to source equipment on their own and accused reporters of misrepresenting that statement to mean that local governments are on their own. But he also did not announce any urgent nationwide effort to produce needed medical supplies and said he wasn’t sure of the exact numbers needed.