Cheques going out to U.S. taxpayers as part of a stimulus programme designed to help workers suffering as a result of the coronavirus will have President Donald Trump’s name on them, an unprecedented decision he seemed to relish.
“I’m sure people will be very happy to get a big, fat, beautiful cheque and my name is on it,” Trump said during a briefing at the Rose Garden, outside the White House.
He said he did not know how his name ended up on the cheques.
“I don’t know too much about it,” he said.
The cheques are a one-time payout of up to 1,200 dollars per adult, and 500 dollars per child, with a cap for high income earners.
People who had their bank accounts on record with the federal government for tax payments already began to receive direct deposits.
The president’s name is expected to appear not as the legal signature on the physical cheques, but in a separate area.
Similar cheques, such as tax refunds, go out through the Internal Revenue Service, which sits under the Treasury Department, and the signature is of the office holder of that section of government.
This will still be true of the stimulus payments. (dpa/NAN)