Fine print of stimulus bill contains special deals for industries
WASHINGTON — Restaurants and retailers will get a tweak to federal tax law they have been seeking for more than a year that could save them $15 billion. Community banks are being granted their long-held wish of being freed to reduce the amount of capital they have to hold in reserve.
And for-profit colleges will be able to keep federal loan money from students who drop out because of the coronavirus.
Tucked into the largest bailout in U.S. history — a $2 trillion federal stimulus package agreed to by congressional leaders and the White House early Wednesday in an effort to reduce the economic devastation of the coronavirus outbreak — are a range of provisions that stand to benefit specific industries and interest groups.
Even the fine print in a near-final 883-page version of the bill has fine print. Democrats proudly announced that they had won agreement on language to block President Donald Trump, other government officials and their families from receiving assistance from a $500 billion fund to be administered by the Treasury Department.
But it turns out that the provision might not preclude funds from going to companies owned by the family of Trump’s son-inlaw and White House adviser, Jared Kushner, while Trump’s companies would not be barred from benefiting from other elements of the bill intended to help broad swaths of U.S. business.
For example, certain hotel owners, even those employing thousands of people, will be eligible for small-business loans, a provision that could potentially benefit Trump’s company to help to continue to pay wages for his employees. The Trump Organization could also benefit from the $15 billion change to the tax code won by restaurants and retailers.
The legislation, which could be passed by the Senate and the House and signed into law by Trump within the next day, is intended primarily to put money in the hands of many households and prop up especially hard-hit industries like airlines.
But its sheer size and the rushed way it was put together made it an irresistible target for lobbyists, who launched a frenzied effort to insert into the must-pass legislation provisions their clients wanted, some of which had a timely rationale and others of which were largely unconnected to the coronavirus crisis.
As with any complex piece of legislation, this one will create winners and losers.
Despite the effort by Democrats to limit access by top federal officials and members of Congress to the bailout funds, the law would still leave room for Trump to benefit. At least two of the provisions, intended to help the hotel and restaurant industries, could potentially provide financial help to the Trump Organization.
A spokesman for the Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
Both parties jammed in provisions to help favored constituencies. The deal included $25 million for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington — money that has generated complaints from some conservatives.
It also includes $7.5 million for the Smithsonian Institution as well as $75 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide grants to arts organizations, museums and libraries during the coronavirus outbreak.