Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Monday that lawmakers should not allow fears over the size of the nation’s deficit or the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet to delay additional Covid-19 relief.
Mnuchin, who with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has led the administration’s Covid-19 relief negotiations, said the economic crisis warrants extraordinary stimulus from Congress and the Fed.
“Now is not the time to worry about shrinking the deficit or shrinking the Fed balance sheet,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” from the White House. “There was a time when the Fed was shrinking the balance sheet and coming back to normal. The good news is that gave them a lot of room to increase the balance sheet, which they did.”