President Trump’s Name to be Embossed on Stimulus Checks

WASHINGTON – In an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump’s name will be printed on the stimulus checks the Internal Revenue Service is about to start sending to millions of Americans across the country.

The inclusion of Trump’s name was first reported Wednesday by the Washington Post. It will appear directly beneath the words “Economic Impact Payment.”

The decision to add Trump’s name marks the first time a president’s name has appeared on any IRS payments, either refund checks or other stimulus checks, that have been mailed during past economic crises.

Ordinarily, checks from the government are signed by civil servants to ensure government payments are nonpartisan.

Because the president is not an authorized signer for money sent by the U.S. Treasury, the new checks will also bear the signature of an official from the Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

Nevertheless, the decision to emboss Trump’s name on the payment brought an immediate rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who said Wednesday, “delaying direct payments to vulnerable families just to print his name on the check is another shameful example of President Trump’s catastrophic failure to treat this crisis with the urgency it demands.”

In a statement, the Treasury Department said adding Trump’s name will not delay issuance of the paper checks, which will be mailed to people who are not set up to receive direct deposit payments from the IRS.

“Economic Impact Payment checks are scheduled to go out on time and exactly as planned — there is no delay whatsoever,” the department said in a statement.

“In fact, we expect the first checks to be in the mail early next week, which is well in advance of when the first checks went out in 2008 and well in advance of initial estimates,” it said.

Electronic payments to about 60 million Americans are expected to be made beginning later this week or early next week. The electronic payments will be made using direct deposit information for these individuals from their 2018 or 2019 tax returns.

Checks will be mailed to people who do not have information on file with the IRS to allow for direct deposits, many of them low-income individuals.

The IRS is currently scheduled to begin issuing paper checks to individuals starting May 4. The government says it can issue as many as five million per week, meaning it could take as long as 20 weeks to get checks in the hands of all who qualify for them.

On Wednesday, the Treasury Department and IRS launched the “Get My Payment” web application to allow  taxpayers who filed their tax return in 2018 or 2019 but did not provide their banking information on either return to submit direct deposit information.  Once they do, they will get their economic impact payments deposited directly in their bank accounts, instead of waiting for a check to arrive in the mail.  

The payments are part of the $2.2 trillion rescue package signed into law at the end of last month aimed at combating the economic free-fall caused by shutdown orders in the coronavirus pandemic.

Anyone who earns up to $75,000 in adjusted gross income and who has a Social Security number will receive a $1,200 payment. That means married couples filing joint returns will receive the full payment, $2,400, if their adjusted gross income is under $150,000.

Parents also will receive $500 for each qualifying child.