Officials stress aid to jobless, businesses

Dems press Mnuchin to sway GOP to support increased relief fund.

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday that the government’s top priorities in any new economic relief package should be to provide affordable loans to small businesses and further support for millions of Americans still unemployed.

With dim prospects for any new federal aid package, members of the Senate Banking Committee pressed both officials to list improvements that could be quickly made in the nearly $3 trillion in support that Congress has passed to fight the pandemic-induced recession that has nearly 11 million people still jobless.

Democrats on the panel urged Mnuchin, one of the administration’s top negotiators, to work harder to persuade Republicans in Congress to raise the amount of money they would be willing to support in a new bill. And Republicans urged Democratic members to consider a lower amount that might clear both the House and Senate with Election Day fewer than six weeks away.

Mnuchin agreed that business loans and enhanced unemployment support would be good priorities for Congress to back in any new package.

Pressed to state what the top priorities should be, Powell cited providing more support through the popular Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses and boosting unemployment benefits. The PPP still holds around $130 billion that had not been allocated when authorization for the program expired.

The original relief package provided a $600-a-week federal unemployment benefit, on top of whatever jobless aid a state provides. But the $600 benefit has expired. Many Republicans have

BYRON SMITH / NEW YORK TIMES The majority of workers who took a reduction amid the pandemic are still earning less than they were prior to the outbreak, according to a Pew Research Center study.