Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday that Donald Trump wants to send checks to American workers within the next two weeks to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

After announcing a tax deferment, Mnuchin revealed that “the president and I worked on a very significant economic stimulus plan.”

“I will be presenting that to the Republicans in the Senate this morning, and also discussing that with the House. We look forward to having bipartisan support. We are now working with the Senate to pass this legislation very quickly and these will be payments to small businesses,” Mnuchin explained. “We have talked about loan guarantees to critical industries such as airlines and hotels, and we have also talked about a stimulus package to the American worker. You can think of this as something like business interruption payments for the American workers.”

After a reporter asked whether the plan would be “direct payments to Americans” or a payroll tax, Mnuchin replied, “Although the president likes the idea of the payroll tax holiday, I will tell you what we’ve heard from many people, and the president has said we can consider this.”

“The payroll tax holiday will get people money over the next 6-8 months. We are looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” he declared.

“And what we have heard from hardworking Americans, many companies have now shut down whether it’s bars or restaurants. Americans need cash now, and the president wants to give cash now. I mean now in the next two weeks.”

On the question of how much money American workers would receive, Mnuchin said, “I will be previewing that with the Republicans. There are some numbers out there. They may be a little bit bigger than what’s in the press.”

WATCH:

NEW: Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin: "We're looking at sending checks to Americans immediately…and I mean now, in the next two weeks."

Mnuchin declined to name an amount. https://t.co/fGuwrsbtfV pic.twitter.com/n8vtFOlZv9

— ABC News (@ABC) March 17, 2020