Coronavirus Stimulus Likely to Top $1 Trillion, Include Checks for Public

As Congress tries to hash out a stimulus package potentially worth more than $1 trillion, Democrats are gearing up for a fight over whether direct payments to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic will be enough.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is among those arguing for expanded unemployment insurance as a source of relief.

“A single $1,000 check would help someone pay their landlord in March but what happens after that?” the New York Democrat said on the chamber floor Wednesday. “A thousand dollars goes by...

The novel coronavirus is redefining Donald Trump’s presidency eight months before he stands for reelection as he wagers that the potentially largest rescue package in U.S. history could protect the American people from the economic carnage brought by the pandemic.

Trump will be tested at the ballot box not only by his management of the public health crisis but also his ability to navigate what the president says will likely be a recession — a challenge that is reviving the decade-long debate over the use of public money to prop...