Mnuchin, Powell back jobless, PPP support

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 the prospects for any new federal aid package appearing dim, 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 just 39 days 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-aweek federal unemployment benefit, on top of whatever jobless aid a state provides. But the $600 benefit has expired. Many Republicans have argued that amount was so large as to dissuade some unemployed people from looking for a job.

Powell repeated his view that providing more support was essential to keep the economy on a sustained upturn. He said a big risk is that many unemployed people will have a hard time finding new jobs because they work in areas of the economy where job losses have been the largest, such as restaurants and bars.