DISCUSSING PRIORITIES
Schumer joins Capital Region Chamber during virtual event
The Capital Region Chamber of Commerce recently hosted a Zoom conversation with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
In front of Capital Region business owners and elected officials, Schumer, D-NY, discussed the impact of the recently enacted CARES 2 Act. Additionally, Schumer spoke to how he and his colleagues and the newly minted Biden Administration are working to craft the next wave of federal support.
According to Schumer, those funds will look to provide aid to citizens and businesses, along with state and local governments.
“We all know that the action of Congress can have a direct correlation on how quickly we emerge from the public health and economic crisis caused by this
pandemic,” Capital Region Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Eagan remarked on the vitality of federal funds.
Schumer listed off some of those funds passed recently in the second COVID-19 relief package.
“[There are] $600 in direct payments to low and middleincome individuals. We’re going to get that up to $2,000 in the new bill, it’s a priority,” Schumer said.
“Expanded unemployment benefits worth $300 extra a month,” Schumer continued on the allocation of dollars from the second round of pandemic relief. “$69 billion to distribute vaccines and tests and other resources. $88 billion in education funding to help open our K-12 public schools and help higher ed. $25 billion in rent relief, New York by the way gets $1.3 billion of that to prevent evictions.
“$10 billion for child care, $7 billion for broadband, $13 billion for SNAP, $4 billion
to keep our public transit running, not only for the MTA downstate but also for the CDTA, which will receive $28 million of that, $36 million for Upstate airports, Albany International gets $4.9 million of that, $2 billion to represent low-income families and of course, the small business wins.”
The majority leader also noted the creation of Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) grants to help nonprofits, which comprise about 18% of the Capital Region economy. Those grants can be applied for through the Small Business Administration (SBA).
In addition to those loans, Schumer explained how small businesses may benefit from applying for part of the $284 billion allocated for PPP loans.
“In the new bill, there’s a new second loan. If you got the first loan, you can still get the second loan, and if you didn’t get the first loan because either you didn’t apply or because you were rejected, you can apply for both and get an extra extension and more money,” Schumer remarked.
“[There’s] $15 billion set aside for CDFI’s and MDI’s, community lenders who help small and minority-owned businesses apply for grants,” Schumer noted, recommending folks reach out to Pursuit lending in Albany to apply for help.
Schumer added that religious institutions and nonprofits are also eligible for those grants.
The majority leader, who visited the Palace Theatre in Albany last September, commented that he was also able to secure $15 billion dollars for Save Our Stages.
“We have lots of arts venues in the Capital Region that were suffering. These are places where people get together and congregate and they were losing. We all know how important the arts are as an economic miracle,” Schumer explained on the vital role the arts play in the
community.
Venues such as the Palace, the Egg, Troy Music Hall, and independent movie theaters like the Spectrum, are among those eligible for the grants. The six-month grants provide up to 45% of gross revenue up to $10 million, and goes toward expenses such as rent, utilities, mortgage, etc., according to Schumer.
Looking ahead, the Majority Leader is proposing $350 billion for state and local relief in the American Rescue Plan (ARP).
“In this bill, half the money goes to the state and half goes directly to local entities,” Schumer remarked on the funds.
“There’s more unemployment aid, there’s more rental assistance,” Schumer continued on increased funding in the next bill.
Another crucial priority for Schumer in the ARP bill is passing the Restaurants Act.
“One of my priorities is the Restaurant Act. Restaurants and bars, like our arts venues, are the places that suffered the most because when people can’t go out, they don’t go to restaurants,” Schumer said.
“So they need special help, not just small business help, eight-week help, even 16week help isn’t enough. And the Restaurants Act provides, like the Save our Stages Act, a long-term grant to the restaurants and we are very hopeful we can get it done,” Schumer explained on the vital importance of restaurants to local economies.
“It’s expensive but so is having these mom and pop restaurants. They’ve lost $135 billion in sales, 110,000 have closed, so it’s vital to getting
the economy going, it’s vital with employment, we’re fighting very, very hard, it’s one of my highest priorities,” Schumer added.
The majority leader also spoke to the need to make the Capital Region a hub for the next wave of future technologies.
“Another way I’m trying to help the Capital Region as majority leader is a massive investment in domestic semiconductor and microelectronic chip industries,” Schumer said.
“We have Global Foundries,
ON Semi, GE, SUNY Poly, RPI, and Tech Valley. We’re a global leader in semiconductor technology and these chips are used for all of us,” Schumer continued.
“We’re working with the Biden Administration to get these funded. It’s going to help make our country and New York one of the world centers of semi-conductors,” Schumer added.
To that end, Schumer is proposing the Endless Frontier Act (EFA). The EFA would inject $100 billion in technologies for the future, as well as $10 billion for hubs that aren’t in major cities such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.
Among other priorities, Schumer noted the importance of restoring SALT deduction, repairing old and building new cleaner energy infrastructure, along with providing better broadband
The majority leader ultimately circled back around to money for states and local municipalities.
“What I say to some of my Republican friends who hate this, well you’re all for small business relief, that’s great because you don’t want them to lay off workers. Well, if it’s a worker of a state or local government, a firefighter or a guy who picks up the garbage or a bus driver or a nurse, that’s a job too, and it hurts the economy just as much. We’ve lost a million jobs so far from state and local government,” Schumer explained.
The majority leader urged his colleagues to be bold and to not water down the bill like the 2009 stimulus package, which failed to provide adequate funds to state and local governments, creating an additional four to fiveyear drag on the economy, according to Schumer.