President Trump made a rare appearance in the Senate to assure Republicans his administration is handling the spread of the coronavirus and developing a plan to help those affected by the disease, including the possibility of a $300 billion payroll tax cut.
“His message was, this is not a time for politics, and everybody needs to take this seriously, but don’t panic, we’re on top of it,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said after the Tuesday meeting, which was not open to the media.
Republicans, Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence huddled for about an hour in a room near the Senate chamber to discuss efforts to ramp up detection and treatment of the virus and to plan for new economic measures aimed at mitigating losses by businesses and industries from the spread of the disease.
Pence heads the president’s task force overseeing the federal response to the coronavirus.
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The meeting centered on both the immediate efforts to stop the spread of the virus and treat the infected and stimulus measures to ease the negative economic impact.
Trump on Monday said he would propose a payroll tax cut and made the pitch privately to GOP lawmakers in the meeting but did not provide details about the size and scope of such a cut, those in the room told the Washington Examiner.
“He wants to take action because he realizes we probably have to,” Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, said after the meeting. “There are a whole host of options, and the president is focused on payroll tax, and probably a larger one than has happened in the past, and that might be most effective.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, said staff-level talks have focused on a possible $300 billion payroll tax cut. “That’s not gospel; it could be higher or lower.”
“I don’t think a final decision has been made on the stimulus side,” Kennedy said. “But we are discussing it.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also attended and made the payroll tax cut pitch.
Kennedy said, in addition to a payroll tax, lawmakers were discussing refinancing debt, making changes in the tax code permanent, and an infrastructure bill.
“We are all aware of the fact that fear is spreading much faster than the virus,” Kennedy said. “And we are also aware of the fact that this is going to have an impact on our economy. It’s going to have an impact on the world economy. And we are talking about how to deal with that.”
