Relief must be directed to families who have suddenly found themselves having difficulty because of the growing coronavirus epidemic, Sen. Josh Hawley said Tuesday while explaining his decision to propose an emergency family relief program.
"It's crazy for parents right now," the Missouri Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends," explaining that his program would send relief to families based on the number of children that they have and on the size of their income.
"It's great to look to businesses," he said about the coronavirus relief bill, which he also agrees needs to be passed quickly. "It's great to support business. We have got to do it. But let's not forget that it's workers and families who are the true backbone of our economy. And they need relief ASAP."
The money could be sent out quickly through the IRS, which already has a mechanism in place to distribute tax refunds, said Hawley.
"The IRS does know how to contact Americans quickly," said Hawley. "As to the amount, the IRS estimates that a family of four, a middle-income family of four spends about $1,800 a month on basic expenses, that's not amenities, but basic expenses. The idea would be to cover some increment of that to try to give working families some relief."
Meanwhile, Hawley said he'd like to see some uniform guidance about legislation and programs, but he does not know that the federal government has the authority to order governors — although it can strongly encourage them to take certain steps.
"I do think it would be helpful for the Centers for Disease Control to issue uniform guidance and to say, listen, here is our strong recommendation across the board," said Hawley. "I know as I talk to cities in my state and mayors, they are saying sometimes we are not sure what to do. We wish that there was uniform guidance that we could follow. I think that would be helpful."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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