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Checks may come to Americans as jobs vanish

With big pieces of the U.S. economy rapidly shutting down because of the coronavirus outbreak, President Trump urged Congress to “go big” with a stimulus package that would include sending checks directly to many Americans.

The details were in flux. Steven Mnuchin, secretary of the Treasury, told Republican senators privately that the administration wanted to pump about $850 billion more into the economy. About $250 billion would be used to give all but the highest earners about two weeks’ pay each. The checks would go out sometime in April.

The pandemic is beginning to hit workers hard. Restaurants, coffee shops, gyms and other businesses are laying people off. So are hotel chains: Marriott International is furloughing tens of thousands of employees. A flood of people inquiring about unemployment insurance in New York State crashed the website.

In less directly affected industries, employers are largely trying to keep people on the payroll, even if it means cutting hours. But many lack the means to keep that up for very long.