{"id":103287,"date":"2020-07-03T09:47:59","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T16:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=103287"},"modified":"2020-07-03T09:47:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T16:47:59","slug":"president-trump-members-of-administration-on-june-jobs-numbers-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=103287","title":{"rendered":"President Trump &#038; Members of Administration on June Jobs Numbers Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Well, thank you very much, everybody.  Appreciate it.  This is mostly an economic conference, and we have Steve Mnuchin with us, Larry Kudlow.  I\u2019d like to just announce the spectacular news for American workers and American families and for our country as a whole.  There\u2019s not been anything like this \u2014 record setting.  It was just put out that the United States economy added almost 5 million jobs in the month of June, shattering all expectations.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jeJN9xdrP0Q\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I was watching this morning, and the expectations were much lower than that.  The stock market is doing extremely well, which means, to me, jobs.  That\u2019s what it means: jobs.  This is the largest monthly jobs gain in the history of our country.  The unemployment rate fell by more than 2 percentage points down to just about 11 percent.  We\u2019re down to the 11 percent number.  We started at a number very much higher than that.  As you know, we broke the record last month, and we broke it again this month in an even bigger way.<\/p>\n<p>This news comes on top of May\u2019s extraordinary jobs report, which was revised upwards, by the way, to 2.7 million jobs; it was 2.5.  That was last month, and that was a record setter, but it actually got a little bit better.  We revised it, and it was revised upward to 2.7 million jobs for a combined total of 7.5 million jobs created in the last two months.  And that\u2019s a record by many millions of jobs.  So it\u2019s 7.5 million jobs created in the last two months alone.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s announcement proves that our economy is roaring back.  It\u2019s coming back extremely strong.  We have some areas where we\u2019re putting out the flames or the fires, and that\u2019s working out well.  We\u2019re working very closely with governors, and I think it\u2019s working out very well.  I think you\u2019ll see that shortly.<\/p>\n<p>In June, we added 2.1 million leisure and hospitality jobs; 740,000 retail jobs; 568,000 education and healthcare jobs; 357,000 service jobs \u2014 these are all historic numbers \u2014 and 356,000 manufacturing jobs.  And manufacturing looks like it\u2019s ready to really take off at a level that it\u2019s never been before.  And a lot of that has to do with our trade policy, because we\u2019re bringing manufacturing back to our country.  And these take a long time to get \u2014 to get going, and they\u2019re now going.<\/p>\n<p>So these are historic numbers.  I\u2019m really happy when I see 356,000 manufacturing jobs, and that\u2019s just a small number compared to what it will be soon because of our great trade deals.<\/p>\n<p>African American workers \u2014 really happily for me \u2014 made historic gains with 404,000 jobs added last month alone, and that\u2019s a record.  And the second largest jump will be last month \u2014 and what we have, if you add the two months together, it\u2019s 700,000 jobs for African American workers added in the last two months.  And that\u2019s a record by a lot.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, Hispanic employment is up by 1.5 million jobs, a record by a lot.  Hispanic employment up 1.5 million jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Three million more women were employed in the month of June, a record.  Never had a number like that.<\/p>\n<p>Workers with a high school education or less made the biggest strides of all.  So people that have just a high school education, or have less than a high school education \u2014 with unemployment, those without a high school diploma dropped a full 3.3 percentage points; that\u2019s the largest drop in recorded history.<\/p>\n<p>Eighty percent of small businesses are now open.  Eighty percent.  And we think we\u2019re going to have some very good numbers in the coming months because others are opening.  And especially as we put the flame out \u2014 getting rid of the flame; it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n<p>New business applications have doubled since late March.  That\u2019s a number that is not even thinkable to achieve this early into a pandemic.  The latest ISM Manufacturing Report rose 10 percentage points, with new orders jumping a remarkable 25 percentage points \u2014 all a record.<\/p>\n<p>Consumer confidence, which is great \u2014 that\u2019s a great number to me because that means confidence is really good.  If you don\u2019t have good consumer confidence \u2014 it\u2019s like life: If you don\u2019t have confidence, you\u2019re not going to do very well.  Consumer confidence has risen 12 points since April.  And six-month job expectations hit the all-time \u2014 an all-time high.<\/p>\n<p>So think of that for a second: With all we go through, with all of the trials and tribulations that we read about every night \u2014 much of it totally fake news, fortunately.  And if the consumer didn\u2019t get it, you wouldn\u2019t have good consumer confidence.  We have \u2014 consumer confidence has risen 12 points since April, an all-time high.  Think of that.<\/p>\n<p>Retail sales surged an astonished \u2014 astonishing 18 percent.  So retail sales went up an astonishing 18 percent in May.  That\u2019s the largest increase in the history of our country.  That\u2019s a tremendous number, 18 percent.  The number of \u2014 and what it means to me is jobs.<\/p>\n<p>The number of unemployed Americans reentering the labor force rose by 43 percent, and fewer workers are dropping out of the labor force than before.<\/p>\n<p>And the crisis is being handled.  You know, if you look \u2014 we were talking this morning \u2014 something to think about \u2014 China was way early and they\u2019re getting under control just now.  And Europe was way early, and they\u2019re getting under control.  We followed them, with this terrible China virus, and we are likewise getting under control.<\/p>\n<p>Some areas that were very hard-hit are now doing very well.  Some were doing very well, and we thought they may be gone and they flare up, and we\u2019re putting out the fires.  But other places were long before us, and they\u2019re now \u2014 it\u2019s like life; it\u2019s got a life.  And we\u2019re putting out that life, because that\u2019s a bad life that we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n<p>But all of this suggests that workers are confident about fighting a new job.<\/p>\n<p>The stock market is soaring with the best gains in over 20 years.  In the second quarter, the Dow Jones increased 18 percent.  This is in a quarter \u2014 18.  These are not numbers that people have heard about.  It\u2019s the best in 33 years.  The S&#038;P 500 increased by almost 20 percent, the best since 1998 for the quarter.  And NASDAQ increased over 30 percent, the best since 1999.<\/p>\n<p>And we had a 50-month \u2014 if you look over a long period of time, a phenomenal number.  But if you look since the election, we\u2019ve gone up \u2014 the Dow went up close to 45 percent.  The S&#038;P 500 went up 47 percent, and NASDAQ composite went up \u2014 getting close to 100 percent.  So these are numbers that are not numbers that other presidents would have.  And they won\u2019t have it.  The only thing they can kill it is a bad president or a president that wants to raise taxes.<\/p>\n<p>You want to raise taxes?  This whole thing \u2014 your 401(k)s will drop down to nothing, and your stock market will drop down to nothing.  This is not just luck, what\u2019s happening; this is a lot of talent.<\/p>\n<p>All of this incredible news is the result of historic actions my administration has taken working with our partners in Congress to rescue the U.S. economy from a horrible event that was formed, took place in China, and came here.  And they could have stopped it.  They could have stopped it.  Nobody likes to write that, but they could have stopped it.  They know it, and I know it.<\/p>\n<p>Through the Paycheck Protection Program, we\u2019ve extended over $520 billion in loans to nearly 5 million small businesses, saving and supporting the jobs of tens of millions of American workers.  This has been a tremendous success; levels that nobody has ever seen before.  But we saved all of those \u2014 all of those jobs and all of those small businesses.  And some will be large businesses soon, perhaps.<\/p>\n<p>We also rushed urgently needed relief to millions and millions of hardworking taxpayers.  They got that directly, and we\u2019re working on a phase four.  We\u2019re working with Congress.  That work has started.  Steve Mnuchin can give you a little briefing.  We\u2019re talking about payroll tax cuts, we\u2019re talking about more money being infused.  And it comes back to us.  It comes back.  It\u2019s all coming back.  It\u2019s coming back faster, bigger, and better than we ever thought possible.  These are the numbers.  These are not numbers made up by me; these are numbers.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve implemented an aggressive strategy to vanquish and kill the virus, and protect Americans at the highest risk, while allowing those at lower risk to return safely to work.  That\u2019s what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n<p>Our health experts continue to address the temporary hotspots in certain cities and counties.  And we\u2019re working very hard on that.  We\u2019re \u2014 the relationship with the governors is very good.  We made a call \u2014 Mike Pence made a call just yesterday and said, \u201cWhat do you need?\u201d  Not one governor needed anything.  They don\u2019t need anything.  They have all the medical equipment they can have.  Thank you, U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p>They have all of the ventilators they have \u2014 you know, we\u2019re giving many ventilators and selling, in some cases, and giving when needed.  But we\u2019re \u2014 we\u2019re the ventilator king.  We\u2019re now producing thousands of ventilators \u2014 thousands of ventilators a week.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re helping other countries.  And other countries are desperately in need of ventilators, because this is now at 189 countries.  That changes all the time, that number.  Our last count is 189 countries, and many of them don\u2019t have money and they \u2014 almost all of them don\u2019t have a capacity to build a ventilator, which is hard to build \u2014 very complex, very expensive.  Very big, in many cases.  We\u2019ve done an incredible job.  So we have assembly lines building ventilators, and we\u2019re building thousands a week.<\/p>\n<p>All of these people are working with governors and local officials to restore best practices, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ve done.  That includes face coverings, social distancing, testing, and personal hygiene.  Wash your hands.<\/p>\n<p>State officials will decide how rapidly to open their economies.  That\u2019s largely up to them.  If we see something that\u2019s egregious, we\u2019ve gotten involved with a couple of them where we thought it was unfair.  We\u2019d like to see churches opened quickly.  And some of them just don\u2019t want to do that.  In New York, we got a great ruling from a judge \u2014 thank you, Judge \u2014 that they can open.<\/p>\n<p>If these best practices are implemented, then the hotspots can be calmed quickly.  And we understand this horrible disease right now.  We didn\u2019t understand the disease at all.  We did the right thing.  We closed it up.  We would have lost millions of lives.  We\u2019ve done a historic thing.  We would have lost millions of lives.  And now we\u2019re opening it up, and it\u2019s opening up far faster than anybody thought even possible, and more successfully.<\/p>\n<p>And as I said, you\u2019re going to have a fantastic third quarter.  It\u2019ll be a third quarter, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before, in my opinion.  And the good thing is the numbers will be coming out just prior to the election, so people will be able to see those numbers.  The fourth quarter, likewise, will be extremely good.  And maybe most importantly, from the standpoint of our country itself, next year will be a historic year.  Next year is going to be an incredible year for jobs, for companies, for growth.  Things are happening like nobody would have thought possible.<\/p>\n<p>I do want to comment: Boeing, as you know, is moving along in their process.  It\u2019s been a very hard process, a very complicated progress \u2014 process, but they have made tremendous, tremendous gains.  And they\u2019re going for approvals on the aircraft, the 737 Max.  They\u2019re also starting to do some real business.<\/p>\n<p>So I just want to congratulate Boeing.  They\u2019ve been through so much.  I think it was probably the greatest company in the world.  I used to say it was the greatest company in the world, and then it ran through a very tough period of time.<\/p>\n<p>But I just want to say that Boeing has made tremendous progress in a short period of time, and other companies I don\u2019t even have to talk about because they\u2019re all setting records, every one \u2014 virtually every one of our great companies are setting records.<\/p>\n<p>So I want to thank everybody for being here today.  These are historic numbers in a time that a lot of people would have wilted; they would have wilted.  But we didn\u2019t wilt, and our country didn\u2019t wilt.  And I\u2019m very honored to be your President.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you very much.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  So let me just make some additional comments.  And, first of all, we couldn\u2019t be more pleased with the results.  Today, again, between this month and last month, that\u2019s about 8 million jobs, 8 million people we put back to work because of the CARES Act and working with Congress.<\/p>\n<p>I think, as you know, people thought we would have 30 million people unemployed.  Fortunately, we never got to that.  So, 8 million jobs back, but our work is not done.  Our work won\u2019t be done until every single American who lost their job because of COVID gets back to work.<\/p>\n<p>And there\u2019s no question \u2014 I want to thank the Senate and the House for working with us \u2014 there\u2019s no question these programs are working.  I also want to thank them for extending the PPP.<\/p>\n<p>As I\u2019ve said, it\u2019s our priority when we get to the CARES 4 bill in July, we will look to work with the House and Senate on a bipartisan basis to repurpose that money.  We have about $130 billion left.  There are going to be a number of businesses that are particularly hard hit, and we\u2019ll be looking to give those businesses additional money.  So CARES 4 will be much more targeted for the businesses that continue to need work, but there is no question that this is working.<\/p>\n<p>And we look forward to continuing this progress.  Again, I think 8 million jobs, really extraordinary.<\/p>\n<p>Now, let me just make one other comment: Director Kudlow and I are not wearing masks up here because we\u2019ve both been tested this morning.  Okay?  And that\u2019s the only reason.  But even with that, we did social distance.  So I\u2019m pleased to see you\u2019re all wearing masks.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m going to let Director Kudlow make a few comments, and then we\u2019ll both be happy to take questions.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  Thanks, Steven.  Just briefly, underscoring these high-frequency indicators, you know, it\u2019s a difficult thing to do.  We haven\u2019t had much experience with these pandemics.  But I will say this: The Apple mobility index is a very important index.  It\u2019s a real \u2014 literally a real-time daily indicator, and we\u2019re not seeing any declines.  It\u2019s still strengthening, even, I might add, in some of the southwestern states which have difficult hotspots.<\/p>\n<p>Housing demand and housing surveys are just soaring.  Automobile demand now expected for the third quarter, about 10 million-plus production units.  The trucking surveys look very, very strong.<\/p>\n<p>And the Dallas Fed survey \u2014 I don\u2019t recall if it was in the President\u2019s notes \u2014 because it\u2019s obviously in Texas, a bad hotspot \u2014 the Dallas Fed survey, which goes to the end of the month, has not yet shown any declines.  Now, it may; I\u2019m not going to rule that out.<\/p>\n<p>And I would say as a general matter, these job numbers, as good as they are \u2014 erasing a third to a half of those who are unemployed \u2014 there\u2019s still a lot of hardship and a lot of heartbreak in these numbers.  I understand that.  And the economy is on its way back.  We have a ways to go.<\/p>\n<p>I will, however, continue to reference the Congressional Budget Office, which is looking for a very strong third quarter and second half, and a number of private surveys and private forecasters who see the same story on the V-shaped recovery.  And with good policies and leadership, 2021 can be a big bang year, and we will be able to get back to the peak levels of 2019.  So I believe we\u2019re well positioned.  I think we have a lot more work to do; I get that.<\/p>\n<p>And as Steven mentioned, we\u2019ll see how the policy discussions go later this month.  Thanks.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Sure, go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. Secretary, are you concerned to see new unemployment claims rising?  We\u2019re at 1.4 million layoffs last week, and that number is actually going up, not going down.  Are you concerned about that?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Well, let me just say again \u2014 I want to just say we\u2019re going to be concerned until every single person is back to work.<\/p>\n<p>Now, when you look at these numbers, I think it\u2019s tough enough to predict economic numbers in normal times.  In these times, you have to look at all these numbers in the entirety.  So what I would say on that is, there\u2019s a lag on the unemployment claims.  I think you also know many of the states we set up front are completely backed up.<\/p>\n<p>So, no, I would focus on \u2014 the jobs numbers are the most accurate numbers, the trend of 8 million jobs back.  But having said that, I\u2019m concerned until we get everybody back to work.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Obviously, this is good news today, no question about it, but it\u2019s also obvious that the crisis that is surging through Sun Belt states \u2014 record number of cases nationally yesterday \u2014 threatens all of these economic gains.  Many states are throwing their re-openings into reverse.<\/p>\n<p>What additional actions is the administration going to take to stop that?  Will the administration, and will the President specifically, call on Americans to wear masks?  And why don\u2019t we have, rather than you guys celebrating good news that\u2019s already happened \u2014 why don\u2019t we have the Coronavirus Task Force up here giving briefings on how to get under control what is obviously not under control, as Anthony Fauci said this week?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Well, let me just say, I am on the Coronavirus Task Force, so I\u2019m happy to answer a few of those questions.<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t comment on the schedule of briefings.  I\u2019m not aware of that.<\/p>\n<p>The President specifically put in his speech encouraging Americans to wear masks, social distance, and hygiene.  Because he\u2019s the President of the United States and people are not around him \u2014 close \u2014 and the people who are around are tested, I don\u2019t think he needs to wear a mask.<\/p>\n<p>But the rest \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    But doesn\u2019t he want to show people?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  But the rest \u2014 but the rest of us, absolutely.  And the President supports wearing masks.  I was at the House this week testifying.  I\u2019m sure you saw my picture with Chair Powell on the Wall Street Journal; I never thought we\u2019d have a picture like that.  But, yes, we are encouraging Americans to wear masks.<\/p>\n<p>Now, unlike last time, as I\u2019ve said \u2014 and, yes, I realize the numbers of cases; we\u2019re monitoring that carefully.  We\u2019re monitoring the hospital capacity.  Let me just say, I\u2019ve been briefed on where we are on vaccines and virals.  I\u2019m very encouraged we\u2019ll have things by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>So, yes, we\u2019re going to be careful.  And I wouldn\u2019t say \u201creverse\u201d; I would say the states appropriately are pausing certain things, like bars and gyms, which obviously are the more contagious types of things.  And I think the states are acting appropriately.<\/p>\n<p>Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Thank you, Mr. Secretary.<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  Excuse me.  To Jon\u2019s question, there is \u2014 Jon, look, Deborah Birx has been down in Arizona and Texas.  So they have take \u2014 put a team in play, and CDC is doing more of that.  And what they\u2019re doing is working with local officials \u2014 government officials, but health officials \u2014 to really reemphasize what I call the list of best practices.  And I think that will do the trick.  And if you have to phase out \u2014 as Steven said, if you phase out bars, so be it, for a few weeks.<\/p>\n<p>I think some places might\u2019ve been over-exuberant and now have to come back and get back to these best practices of distancing and masks and testing and personal hygiene.<\/p>\n<p>Q    But, Larry, the President just said a few minutes ago that we\u2019re getting this under control.  It is obvious to anyone watching that it is not under control, and Anthony Fauci said so out loud this week.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  I think what \u2014 I think what Dr. Fauci said is that if people don\u2019t take these things seriously \u2014<\/p>\n<p>MR. KUDLOW:  Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  \u2014 okay? \u2014 that the numbers could continue to spike.  So \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    They\u2019re spiking right now.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Again, what I\u2019d say is: The numbers are up; we\u2019re obviously watching this very carefully.  We think that there is the right balance, and we\u2019re working with the states on the health issues and the economic issues.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll go to the next question.<\/p>\n<p>Q    So, Mr. Secretary, there is a record number of new infections every day.  Does the White House regret encouraging states to open as quickly as it did?  And do you think some of that is backfiring?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  No, absolutely not.  I think we\u2019ve had a very careful plan \u2014 again, working with the states.  This is primarily the state\u2019s responsibility, but working with the states.<\/p>\n<p>And again, I think there\u2019s plenty of places we can get people back to work safely.  I can tell you, in the Treasury, we\u2019re going to take more people back.  We are social distancing.  We\u2019re checking people\u2019s temperature at times.<\/p>\n<p>There is a safe way to reopen the economy, and we\u2019re going to do that carefully.<\/p>\n<p>Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Q    So what lesson are you taking from what\u2019s happening?<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. Secretary, a lot of Americans are worried about what\u2019s going to happen with schools in the fall for kids.  And there\u2019s a real economic argument that, without schools, a lot of the workforce can\u2019t actually truly return to work.  What is the administration doing about this?  How are you working on it?  Are there strategies that you\u2019re trying to employ?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  We\u2019re working with schools and universities.  Again, I think in most cases, schools will be able to open safely.  Some schools will need to spend money.  One of the things we\u2019ll look at in CARES 4 is if we need to give money to schools to properly equip their areas.  I think that\u2019s something that will be high \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    You would support additional funds to schools?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Absolutely.  We want to make sure that kids are safe and that if there is money that schools need to spend to safely have people in classrooms, social distance, spread things out, change hours \u2014 these are all the things we\u2019re looking at.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. Secretary, can you assess the current need for American families in a phase four bill?  I mean, in the spring, you said that a very big number was needed.  What\u2019s the current need?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  I think it\u2019s too early to tell.  And that\u2019s the reason why we\u2019re \u2014 we\u2019re waiting.  We\u2019ve spent an unprecedented amount of money.  We have authorization of $3 trillion.  That\u2019s an extraordinary amount of money.  A lot of that money is not in the economy yet.  We\u2019re continuing.  That\u2019s why we\u2019re extending things like the PPP.<\/p>\n<p>And before we go back to Congress \u2014 and I\u2019m already having conversations with certain members of Democrats and Republicans to get ideas, but we want to see the economic numbers.  As I said earlier, people thought we were going to have 30 million people unemployed right now.  Fortunately, we\u2019re about 15 million unemployed.  We had 5 million people unemployed before this, so we got 10 million to put back to work.<\/p>\n<p>The President is committed to do what we need to do in the next bill to protect kids, protect jobs, protect liability.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, in the back.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. Secretary, if you take a look at the President\u2019s Twitter feed over the past few days, he tweeted a video of a supporter yelling, \u201cwhite power.\u201d  He\u2019s been tweeting a veto threat if the \u2014 if military bases are named away from Confederate generals.  He\u2019s been tweeting a lot about Confederate statues and not wanting them to come down.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re in the middle of a pandemic.  Is the President more focused on preserving or celebrating the Confederacy than getting this pandemic under control?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Let me just say, I think the President is focused on everything.  I think this issue of statues and everything else is a complicated issue.<\/p>\n<p>There was an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal from the Cardinal in New York about the Bible and everybody other than Mary and Jesus Christ.  I think it\u2019s a very complicated issue.  We need to have a balanced view of history.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Should the President apologize for the \u201cwhite power\u201d video?  Because he hasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Again, I\u2019m not \u2014 we\u2019re here to talk about economics.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll take one more question in the back.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. Secretary \u2014<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  In the back.  Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. Secretary, where is the Treasury Department on sending stimulus checks to mixed-status families.  There is a lawsuit that was allowed to proceed.  Are you guys going to be doing that anytime soon, or are you going to leave it to the courts to decide whether the Treasury Department has to do it?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  I\u2019m sorry, I didn\u2019t understand the question.  What\u2019s the question?  On stimulus checks?<\/p>\n<p>Q    To mixed-status families, so parents of undoc- \u2014 of American-citizen children, people who are married to undocumented \u2014<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Our position is that legal Americans, American citizens should get the payments.  That\u2019s our focus.  If people are here illegally, they\u2019re not going to get economic payments.  So \u2014<\/p>\n<p>Q    Even if they have \u2014<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  But let me just say we\u2019re very focused on \u2014 as part of the next CARES Act, we\u2019re going to serious consider whether we\u2019re going to put more payments and direct payments over \u2014 it worked very well.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, everybody.<\/p>\n<p>Q    How much state and local aid?  How much aid for state and local governments?<\/p>\n<p>SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  We\u2019ll consider that.  We\u2019ll have discussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Well, thank you very much, everybody. Appreciate it. This is mostly an economic conference, and we have Steve Mnuchin with us, Larry Kudlow. I\u2019d like to just announce the spectacular news for American workers and American families and for our country as a whole. There\u2019s not been anything like this \u2014 record setting. It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Fullscreen-capture-732020-92723-AM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/103288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}