The Trump administration’s proposal to send Americans $1,000 checks is now too little, too late, the plan’s architect tells Axios.
What happened: Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin took two weeks to publicly support the proposal put forth in a March 5 Wall Street Journal editorial by Jason Furman, who served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama.
- “In the two weeks since my op-ed came out the economic situation has deteriorated markedly. It is now clear that a much larger package is needed,” Furman tells Axios in an email.
- Furman’s proposal to send $1,000 to every tax-paying American, along with $500 for their dependents, was embraced by economists across the political spectrum in the interim, including George W. Bush’s CEA chair Gregory Mankiw and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), before Trump ultimately backed it.
Why it matters: The size and speed at which a fiscal stimulus package gets passed will have a direct impact on how successful it is in helping lift the economy from what is shaping up to be a deep and painful recession this year.
Between the lines: “President Trump’s team initially rejected the idea but eventually came around to it, which has been critical,” Furman says.
- “But they have still not come around to the more comprehensive approach that I was advocating and is needed.”
What’s next: There is growing agreement that an unprecedented fiscal package will be necessary to save the economy from ruin, much larger than the proposals currently being considered by the administration.
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called on Congress to pass a “bridge loan” program to give federally guaranteed loans to companies with big losses from the pandemic — an idea from the New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin, who estimates it would cost around $10 trillion.
- The Chamber’s full proposal was inspired by ideas by Sorkin, Kevin Warshand Senate Small Business Committee chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
- Furman also tells Axios he likes Sorkin’s proposal.
