Trump to propose $850B stimulus for coronavirus response

The Trump administration will seek approval of a roughly $850 billion emergency stimulus package from Congress in order to ease the economic impact of the coronavirus, a senior administration official confirmed on Tuesday.

The development was first reported by The Washington Post.

The senior administration official stressed that the proposal is a tax proposal, not a spending stimulus as Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is proposing. The Post reported that the stimulus package could include a payroll tax cut and is expected to include about $50 billion to help the airline industry specifically.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to outline the package to Senate Republicans on Tuesday.

"We'll be looking for support for small- and medium-sized businesses. We'll be looking for support for certain industries that we've talked about that are particularly hard hit. I've talked about airlines, hotels, others. And we will be looking at a general stimulus," Mnuchin told reporters following a meeting with some Republican senators and other Trump administration officials Monday evening.

Mnuchin declined to offer a specific price tag for the package on Monday.

Schumer, meanwhile, is expected to unveil a proposal laying out some $750 billion in spending to address the economic fallout of the virus.

The package that the administration is seeking, if approved, would represent the third such action Congress has taken to address the impact of the virus, which has sickened well over 4,000 people in the United States, rattled the stock market and prompted school, business and other closures across the country.