Steve Mnuchin Expects $600 Payments to Arrive After Christmas: ‘Beginning of Next Week’

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced Monday that the latest round of economic stimulus checks will be distributed next week, as part of the $900 billion dollar Covid Relief bill that passed this weekend.

“People are going to see this money the beginning of next week,” Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer. “Just in time for the holidays.”

Although arriving after Christmas, the new relief package is being sent out much faster than its previous batch of checks.

Cramer also asked Mnuchin if he thinks the United States is at a different place than the country was in April.

“Well, we’re definitely in a much better position and there’s no question the first bill, the CARES Act is the reason why we’re here today and the economy has continued to rebound but as you and I have talked about before, there are still parts of the economy that are particularly hard hit,” said Mnuchin. “As you know, we’ve been working on for months additional money for those parts of the economy and we couldn’t be more pleased that we got this done in time for the end of the year.”

He noted that President Donald Trump wanted direct payments to be made to Americans, meaning the deposits will be sent out next week.

“I expect we’ll get the money out by the beginning of next week, $2,400 for a family of four so much needed relief just in time for the holidays,” he said. “We also have extensions of the PPP you know how important this has been Jim to small business, particularly restaurants.”

“So it’s very fast, it’s money that gets recirculated in the economy,” he added. “People go out and spend this money, and that helps small business and that helps getting more people back to work.”

Mnuchin’s comments came hours before Congress was expected to approve a $900 billion Covid-19 relief bill, which critics have panned for including too much money on priorities unrelated to economic relief for Americans.

Watch above, via CNBC.