U.S. Senator Doug Jones, D-Alabama, on Monday thanked President Donald Trump’s administration for following Jones’ request to speed up emergency payments to Americans struggling amid the COVID-19 crisis through the use of debit cards.
Jones and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, on April 7 wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin expressing concern that CARES Act payments made through paper checks to some citizens would not be mailed until April 24, and asked that debit cards be mailed instead.
“We are very pleased that the Administration will implement our suggestion to use prepaid debit cards to make coronavirus relief payments to eligible Americans. Using debit cards instead of paper checks will be a faster, safer way to distribute payments for struggling American families trying to social distance, pay the bills, and navigate life during this pandemic,” Jones said in a statement Monday.
Mnuchin in a press conference on April 21 announced the administration’s plan to make some emergency payments to citizens through debit cards.
“We’re also going to be supplementing our capability and sending prepaid debit cards so we can get money out quickly to people,” Mnuchin said.
