Congress now aiming aid at small businesses
WASHINGTON — Deadlocked over the next big coronavirus relief bill, Congress is shifting its attention to a more modest overhaul of small business aid in hopes of helping employers reopen shops and survive the pandemic.
Bipartisan legislation that would give small employers more time to take advantage of federal subsidies for payroll and other costs is expected to pass the House this week, as lawmakers return to Washington on Wednesday for an abbreviated two-day session.
Yet absent from the agenda are formal talks between congressional leaders on the next “phase” of the federal coronavirus response. Democrats already have pushed a $3 trillion-plus measure through the House, but negotiations with the GOP-controlled Senate and White House haven’t begun.
“We can’t keep propping up the economy forever,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday in Lexington. It was one of his first public appearances in his home state of Kentucky since mid-March amid the pandemic.
“The ultimate solution is to begin to get back to normal,” he said.
Senate Republicans are divided on the next steps and wary of another sprawling negotiation where Democrats and the White House call the shots. They’re also split on a central element — how much aid to provide state and local governments and other coronavirus response after earlier relief bills totaled almost $3 trillion.
One idea gaining steam — pushed by Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio — would deliver a bonus to unemployed people who return to their jobs. It’s discussed as a replacement for the $600 per week supplemental unemployment benefit that expires July 31.
In the meantime, Democrats are focused on touting the more than $3 trillion measure that they passed this month in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s admonition that they “go big.”
Republicans and the White House have dismissed the bill as a liberal wish list, but they have yet to coalesce around an alternative.
Even so, Republicans are enthusiastic about improving the Paycheck Protection Program, which was established in March under the $2 trillion CARES Act and was replenished last month. All told, Congress has provided about $660 billion for the program,
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a key architect of the aid, said the program has shifted from one that was intended to keep paychecks flowing during the shutdown to a bridge to help businesses pay workers as they reopen — in many cases, at less than full capacity.
The House bill would provide a 24-week window to spend PPP funds and would eliminate a requirement that 75 percent of the forgivable loans be used for payroll costs. The goal is to give business more flexibility to pay rent and other overhead costs such as installing protective equipment.
Under the original program, businesses are required to spend their loan money within the eightweek window to have their loans forgiven. That deadline is fast approaching. But the eight-week window has created a dilemma, particularly for restaurants. Under the law, they were required to rehire all their laid-off workers despite being closed or limited to takeout and delivery. Many restaurant owners feared that they would use up their loan money before being allowed to reopen, or reopening with reduced revenue because of social distancing requirements.