Thousands of Americans are desperately awaiting their stimulus check from the U.S. government to help weather the coronavirus pandemic, but in many cases, it is delayed. Last week, it was reported that President Donald Trump's name will be printed in the memo section of each paper check, and that this caused a delay in the delivery of the payments. All over social media, the story is still causing an uproar amongst Americans.
The Washington Post spoke to three officials in the Treasury Department on Wednesday, who said that the decision to print Trump's name on the stimulus checks came at the very last minute. They said that it pushed the delivery of paper checks back by at least a few days, though later reports from other anonymous officials refuted this account. Regardless, the president's name has never been printed on a stimulus check before, and many are outraged, feeling that the president is using this as a stunt to make himself look good.
Similar economic relief checks have been sent out to Americans before — during the 2008 housing crash, for example, and other major upheavals. In those cases, the names of the current presidents were left off of the checks. The Post reported that Trump initially wanted to have his signature on each check, but the president is not legally authorized to sign over funds to the American people.
Since that report came out, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has gone on CNN and claimed that printing the president's name on the checks was his idea, and that Trump had no hand in it. However, judging by social media, many Americans are still skeptical of this claim.
The first round of direct deposit payments went out on Wednesday, April 15, while the first round of paper checks will be mailed out on Friday, April 24. As Americans await this much-needed aid, many are still fuming about the president's name being printed on the incoming check. Here is what Twitter has been saying about it lately.