White House proposes $916 billion coronavirus package that includes $600 stimulus checks

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin walks from a meeting during negotiations on a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) relief package on Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 23, 2020.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that shared a $916 billion stimulus proposal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The proposal "includes money for state and local governments," Mnuchin said, "and robust liability protections for businesses, schools, and universities."
Mnuchin made no mention of new stimulus checks, but the package includes $600 payments, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Bloomberg.
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The White House has offered a new $916 billion stimulus proposal that is slightly larger than the bipartisan measure currently being considered in the US Senate.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in a statement issued Tuesday evening, said the measure includes "money for state and local governments," as well as "robust liability protection for businesses, schools, and universities."

—Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) December 8, 2020

He said he had discussed the package in a phone conversation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mnuchin made no mention of new stimulus checks or federal unemployment insurance in the statement. However, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, said the package includes $600 direct payments, plus an additional $600 per child.

"It's a much better product," McCarthy told Bloomberg, comparing it to the $916 billion proposal currently being drafted in the Senate that does not include another round of stimulus checks. Democrats and some Republicans are stepping up their calls for direct payments in the next aid package.

Earlier in the day, The Washington Post reported that the White House was pushing Senate Republicans to include $600 checks in a stimulus package. "While the amount is yet to be determined, direct payments to American workers continue to be a high priority of the President's," Ben Williamson, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement.

In May, House Democrats passed a $3 trillion stimulus package that included funding for a second round of $1,200 checks for every US adult.

Senate Republicans, however, have balked at the cost while insisting that any new stimulus package includes liability protections for businesses, aimed at preventing lawsuits over the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.

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