President Joe Biden will not put his name on the $1,400 coronavirus relief checks the U.S. government is sending to millions of Americans, the White House announced Tuesday.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden did not view having his name on the checks as a “priority.” Former President Donald Trump ordered his Treasury Department to include his name on stimulus checks issued while he was in office.
Critics of Trump argued at the time that adding the signature delayed delivery of the checks by a few days. Psaki hinted at potential delays caused by cosmetic additions to the checks in her answer to questions from reporters at the White House on Tuesday.
“Well, we are doing everything in our power to expedite the payments and not delay them, which is why the president’s name will not appear on the memo line of this round of stimulus checks,” Psaki said. “This is not about him. This is about the American people getting relief.”
CNN: “Any update if whether Biden wants his signature on [checks] like Trump demanded?”
Psaki: “We are we are doing everything in our power to expedite the payments & not delay them which is why the President’s name will not appear on memo line of this round of stimulus checks” pic.twitter.com/858yhdKrQu
— Mona Salama (@MonaSalama_) March 9, 2021
Trump’s treasury department issued a statement in April 2020 arguing that adding Trump’s name to the checks had not delayed the delivery process.
Congress is expected to pass Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package following a House vote Wednesday. The Senate voted to pass the bill 50-49 Saturday. The $1,400 checks going out to Americans are just a small fraction of the bill’s cost. The bill received no Republican support in the Senate. (RELATED: Vote-A-Rama: Senate Republicans To Force Votes On A Number Of Issues, Including Blocking Stimulus Checks For Illegal Immigrants)
“In this supposed new era of healing leadership, we’re about to watch one party ram through a partisan package on the thinnest of margins. Go figure. Republicans have many ideas to improve this bill. Many ideas. And we’re about to vote on all kinds of amendments in the hopes that some of these ideas make it into the final product,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday on the Senate floor.