Washington DC, United States of America

The US Congress and President Donald Trump have enacted a historic $2 trillion stimulus bill to address the dramatic economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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The package includes direct payments, an unprecedented expansion in unemployment benefits and $350 billion benefits in small business loans.

Also read: Coronavirus could reoccur in 2024, social distancing should continue in US for two years: Harvard study

But while people need the help immediately, the government is taking its sweet time to get everything moving. 

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Why? Because the 73-year-old president of a country that is dealing with unprecedented health and economic disaster has demanded his name to appear on the stimulus cheques. The funds, which are meant for struggling citizens in America will be delayed for an absurd request by their president.

Now before we give you the details of what exactly is happening at the US Treasury department and why is the internal revenue service delaying the whole process.

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At the latest White House briefing on coronavirus pandemic,  a reporter asked the reason for adding Trump's name on the coronavirus relief cheques, Trump immediately dismissed the question by saying that he doesn't know too much about it.

However, he did confirm that his name will be on the cheques. 

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"I don't know too much about it, but I understand that my name will be there. I don't know where they are going, how they are going. But I do understand that it is not delaying anything. And I'm satisfied with that. I can't imagine it to be a big deal. I am sure the people will be happy to receive a big fat beautiful cheque with my name on it", the president answered.

While the internal revenue service is rushing to send the checks millions of Americans, the US Treasury Department has ordered president Trump’s name printed on them. 

A process that will delay the delivery by a few days. This will be the first time a president’s name will appear on an IRS disbursement, another sign of Trump’s effort to cast his response to the pandemic in political terms.

But the president of the United States is not an authorized signer for legal disbursements by the treasury. It is a standard practice for a civil servant to sign checks issued by the Treasury Department.  A standard procedure to ensure that the government payments are non-partisan. So, the checks will instead bear Trump’s name in the memo line.

The paper checks are scheduled to be issued at a rate of 5 million each week until September.