06/12/2020

Mnuchin Outlines Priorities in Next COVID-19 Relief Bill

He cited the travel, leisure and restaurant industries as needing further aid

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin this week previewed the Trump administration’s priorities in the next COVID-19 relief package, which include bolstering the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and changes to “fix” unemployment insurance. In testimony before the Senate Small Business Committee, Mnuchin signaled that President Donald Trump would be supportive of another economic stimulus bill despite touting a better-than-expected jobs report last week.

“We’re open-minded, but we absolutely believe small businesses – and by the way many big businesses in certain industries – are absolutely going to need more help,” Mnuchin said.

Trump has consistently expressed confidence that the economy would rebound once states started to reopen following weeks of “shelter-in-place” restrictions. Senate Republicans have also pumped the brakes on the next COVID-19 relief package to see what impact reopening has on the economy.

Mnuchin spent much of the hearing focused on the Paycheck Protection Program, which allows loans to small businesses to be forgiven if loan recipients maintain payroll. Mnuchin said the program had a rocky roll=out but is now supporting the employment of roughly 50 million workers and more than 75 percent of the small business payroll in all 50 states.

“This is an extraordinary achievement,” he said. “But I definitely think we are going to need another bipartisan legislation to put more money into the economy.” Mnuchin cited the travel, leisure and restaurant industries as needing further aid.

“Whatever we do going forward needs to be much more targeted particularly to the industries and small businesses that are having the most difficulty in reopening as a result of COVID-19,” Mnuchin said. “We look forward to working with you and the rest of the committee over the next few weeks as we think about that.”

ASAE and numerous other organizations have spent months urging Congress to expand access to PPP loans to associations that have thus far been largely left out of relief measures enacted by Congress. ASAE is also advocating for reauthorizing the PPP until at least Dec. 31, 2020.

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.