Tag: Paycheck Protection Program

Fed Chair Powell Opens a Big Can of Worms at His Press Conference

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Fed Chair Powell Opens a Big Can of Worms at His Press Conference

What the Fed did back then, which it knows it can still do at the drop of a dime today, is to demand an adequate amount of securities as collateral from the Wall Street firms that request its emergency loans. There is zero need or rational reason to make the U.S. taxpayer backstop potential losses on Wall Street – particularly when today’s Wall Street funding problems began months before COVID-19 reared its head in the United States.

Senator Menendez: “3.3 Million Small Businesses Have Closed” and “1.1 Million Local and State Employees Have Lost their Jobs” as a Result of Pandemic

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Senator Menendez: “3.3 Million Small Businesses Have Closed” and “1.1 Million Local and State Employees Have Lost their Jobs” as a Result of Pandemic

Bipartisan group of senators prepares $908 billion stimulus plan, aiming to break partisan logjam

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Bipartisan group of senators prepares $908 billion stimulus plan, aiming to break partisan logjam

The plan set to be released by the bipartisan group seeks to reach a middle ground on numerous contentious economic issues. It would provide $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits — a lower amount than the $600 per week sought by Democrats, while still offering substantial relief to tens of millions of jobless Americans — for four more months. The agreement includes $240 billion in funding for state and local governments, a key Democratic priority opposed by most Republicans, as well as a six-month moratorium on some coronavirus-related lawsuits against firms and other entities — a key Republican priority opposed by most Democrats.

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The bipartisan agreement includes about $300 billion in funding for small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, aides said. It also includes $40 billion to assist hard-hit transit agencies and rental assistance funding for those facing eviction, as well as about $50 billion in health care, including to help with vaccine distribution and testing and tracing of the coronavirus. The effort was expected to leave out a second round of $1,200 stimulus payments, as a way to bring down its overall price tag, even though that measure is supported by both Trump and Pelosi.

Congress returns with virus aid, federal funding unresolved

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Congress returns with virus aid, federal funding unresolved

Before the election, Trump seemed to be focused on a provision that would send another round of $1,200 payments to most Americans. He hasn’t shown a lot of interest in the topic since, apart from stray tweets. But the chief obstacles now appear to be Pelosi’s demand for state and local government aid and McConnell’s demand for a liability shield for businesses reopening during the pandemic.

At stake is funding for vaccines and testing, reopening schools, various economic “stimulus” ideas like another round of “paycheck protection” subsidies for businesses especially hard hit by the pandemic. Failure to pass a measure now would vault the topic to the top of Biden’s legislative agenda next year.

Hundreds of Companies That Got Stimulus Aid Have Failed

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

About 300 companies that received as much as half a billion dollars in pandemic-related government loans have filed for bankruptcy, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of government data and court filings.

Many of the companies, which employ a total of about 23,400 workers, say the funds from the Paycheck Protection Program weren’t enough to keep them going as the coronavirus and lack of additional stimulus payments weighed on their businesses.

Hundreds of Companies That Got Stimulus Aid Have Failed

Trump makes $1.8 trillion economic relief offer, but deal with Pelosi remains elusive

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Trump makes $1.8 trillion economic relief offer, but deal with Pelosi remains elusive

“Until we get liability protection and spending under control I don’t think a lot of conservatives will be real excited to vote for another stimulus package,” Comer said in an interview.

They’ve already bailed out the big corporations, so they’re not interested in helping out us plebs, anymore! Big execs are probably dining on lobster while us plebs are starving!

Senate Republicans to introduce smaller Covid package that includes billions for Postal Service

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Senate Republicans to introduce smaller Covid package that includes billions for Postal Service

The latest GOP coronavirus relief bill is expected to include an additional $10 billion for the U.S. Postal Service, $300 in boosted weekly federal unemployment benefits until December 27, another round of money for the Paycheck Protection Program and liability protections. The proposal is also expected to include money for education and testing.