Treasury Secretary doesn’t think there will be a recession

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” that he expected to have a better idea of the legislation’s price tag this week. he said it won’t be “huge.”

THE BAILOUT ISN’T “HUGE”

“It’s hard to model some of these things because you don’t know how many workers are going to be home. I want to be careful about throwing out numbers,” he said. “I think based upon the numbers that we’re going to see, it’s going to have costs that are significant, but not huge.”

He said it was necessary to get relief for the economy and that the government is focused on helping businesses that need liquidity.

“This focuses on employers that are 500 and less people,” Mnuchin said. “That’s a portion of the economy, but it’s the economy that is going to be hit the hardest.

“The important issue is, whatever we need, we are going to get from Congress.”

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a coronavirus aid package early on Saturday that would provide free testing, paid sick leave, and aid to small businesses.

THERE WILL BE NO RECESSION

He said the government would focus on shoring up the airline, hotel and cruise ship industries. American Airlines Inc said Saturday it plans to cut 75% of its international flights through May 6 and ground nearly all its widebody fleet, as airlines respond to the global collapse in travel demand due to the coronavirus Wuhan foreign Chinese virus.

Responding to ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl on whether there will be a recession, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, “I don’t think so. The real issue is not the economic situation today. … This is a unique situation. We are going to have a slowdown. Later in the year economic activity will pick up as we confront this virus.”

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