Policy News – March 19, 2020

The Small Business Roundtable, a coalition of leading small business and entrepreneurship organizations, sent a letter to congressional leadershipurging policymakers to keep small businesses at the forefront of discussion during this time of economic crisis. Sign on to the letter to support the over 30 million American small businesses. Email: [email protected] to endorse.

The bipartisan economic stimulus packagebill, know as the “Families First Coronavirus Response act,” is slated to be passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump before Friday.

In other news, Senate leaders and the Trump administration have been in negotiations on a third economic stimulus package worth $1 trillion to address the ongoing financial fallout amongst small and medium sized businesses along with the hospitality and airline industries. In this relief package, the administration is looking to send cash payments to individual Americans while also providing an additional $48 billion in funding to government agencies across the board.

On the workforce front, Department of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin alerted congressionallawmakers that the current pandemic could send the national unemployment rate surging across American industries.

Closing out the day, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator, Jovita Carranza issued revised criteriafor states or territories seeking an economic injury declaration related to COVID-19. The new criteria indicates states are only required to certify that at least five small businesses within the state have suffered substantial economic injury, regardless of where those businesses are located and expanded disaster assistance loans will be available statewide following an economic injury declaration.

 

Floor Proceedings

House:Not in Session

The House is not in session and will convene on Monday, March 23, 2020.

Senate:In Session

 

Committee Proceedings

House Committee on Financial Services

  • POSTPONED: the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy will hold a hearingtitled, “A Review of Domestic and International Approaches to Digital Currencies.”
  • POSTPONED: the Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets will hold a hearingtitled, “The End of LIBOR: Transitioning to an Alternative Interest Rate Calculation for Mortgages, Student Loans, Derivatives, and Other Financial Products.”

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

  • On March 24th, the full Committee will hold a hearingtitled, “Oversight of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.”
  • On March 24th, the Subcommittee on Economic Policy will hold a hearing titled, “US – China: Winning the Economic Competition.”

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

  • POSTPONED: the Full Committee will hold a hearingtitled, “An Emerging Disease Threat: How the U.S. Is Responding to COVID-19, the Novel Coronavirus – Part 2.”

 

At the Agencies

Small Business Administration

  • The Department released a news releasetitled, “SBA Updates Criteria on States for Requesting Disaster Assistance Loans for Small Businesses Impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19)”