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President Donald Trump hinted at backing more spending on stimulus checks despite GOP lawmakers already splitting over the sums proposed for a further relief package.
Republican leaders in the Senate have begun putting forward their plans, which include a second round of economic impact payments delivered along similar lines as the last.
Some senators amid their own Republican ranks are already proving difficult to win over to the suggested spending, which was hashed out in talks between Congressional leaders and the White House.
Despite this, Trump has suggested the amount could increase for direct payments.
"We're going to see, it may go higher than that actually," Trump said, when asked if $1,200 was enough in an interview with KMID.
"I'd like to see it be very high because I love the people, I want the people to get it."
Newsweek has contacted the White House for further comment.
Asked about the package being proposed by Republicans, he said he wanted it to be "very generous."
"It's being worked on very hard and I think probably we're going to have something that's going to be very good over the next week or so. We want to take care of people that don't have jobs and we're taking care of a lot of people. Very important," he said, touching on the issue of unemployment, which has proved a major point of contention between Republicans and Democrats.
"We have to do it smart, but we want to be very generous," Trump added.
The president had previously said another relief package would be "very good, it will be very generous."
During the interview, given during his visit to Texas, Trump repeated his vow to return the economy to the position it was pre-pandemic stating "we're bringing it back" while he wanted to take care of people in the meantime.
While the president has expressed his willingness to spend, GOP lawmakers have suggested proposals may not pass the Senate with more fiscally cautious Republicans potentially rejecting them.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) previously suggested that half of Republican lawmakers could go against what is put forward by the party leadership.
Several senators have expressed their unwillingness to support the spending being put forward, raising questions over the nation's debt and the amount being added to that.
It comes with figures showing the national debt has grown by $6.6 trillion during Trump's time as president, as previously reported by Newsweek.
The in-fighting among Republicans has drawn derision from Democrats, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) suggesting negotiations could not properly start while the GOP could not garner enough support within its own ranks for their plans.
The disagreements over the next relief package come as COVID-19 deaths in the United States surpassed 150,000.
There have been more than 4.4 million confirmed cases across the nation, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.
The graphic below, from Statista, shows 21 states classed to be in the "red zone" for COVID-19 cases.
