WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump says his administration will ask Congress to pass payroll tax relief as he looks to calm financial markets’ fears over the impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

Trump told reporters Monday that the administration is seeking “very substantial relief.” Trump stepped forward with the contours of an initiative after markets dropped sharply and as the outbreak spread.

At a press conference in the White House briefing room on Monday evening, the president said he would meet Congress on Tuesday in a bid to pass a temporary payroll tax cut and fund sick leave for hourly employees who are afraid of being unable to work due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

“We’re going to be talking about hourly wage earners getting help so that they can be in a position where they’re not going to ever miss a paycheck,” Trump said, flanked by officials from the government’s coronavirus task force.

Several Trump confidants in Congress disclosed they were isolating themselves after potential exposure to the virus. One traveled with the president from Florida on Air Force One on Monday; another is his just-tapped new chief of staff.