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Congressman Cohen Urges Coronavirus Relief Negotiators to Keep Trump’s Name Off Economic Impact Payment Checks

December 10, 2020

Introduced bill to prevent certain signatures on U.S. Treasury payments

MEMPHIS – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) today wrote to House and Senate negotiators considering a possible coronavirus relief bill, urging them to include language that would keep President Trump's name from appearing on a second round of Economic Impact Payment (EIP) stimulus checks. A similar prohibition was included in the Heroes Act that passed in May.

The letter reads in part:

"As our nation dipped into the worst recession since the Great Depression, the economic impact payments authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided vital assistance to hundreds of millions of Americans. However, in an overtly political and unprecedented move, the president had his name printed on the payments. While he was not legally able to sign the checks, his signature was included in the payments' ‘memo' section. This was the first time in history that a president's name appeared on an IRS disbursement check, whether refund checks or other stimulus checks that have been mailed during past economic crises.

"Besides increasing confusion and misinformation about the origin of the checks, this move likely constituted a criminal violation of the Hatch Act. It is illegal for any elected official to use government employees and property to promote their own reelection. By having his signature appear on the checks, the President blatantly used taxpayer dollars for his own publicity in the middle of the 2020 presidential campaign. This kind of self-serving, self-promoting behavior cannot be allowed ever again."

See the entire letter here.