周二，在民主党、共和党和特朗普政府进行了数周的紧张谈判后，参议院以声音表决的方式提出了另一项价值近5万亿美元的救助计划，用于小企业、医院和冠状病毒检测。
大约4，800亿美元(3，800亿美元)中的大部分被批准用于补充为小企业提供运营和工资成本贷款的计划，主要是提供可宽恕贷款的薪酬保障计划(PPP)。在上个月的2.2万亿美元刺激计划中，最初分配给该计划的3490亿美元在上周四告罄，当时各方围绕该基金应如何补充资金发生了内讧。
在大约3，800亿美元的小企业拨款中，有600亿是留给社区银行和“欠银行”企业以及非营利组织的，民主党人说这些企业和非营利组织没有机会参与这个项目，比如那些在农村或者由少数民族或妇女拥有的企业。另外还为小企业管理局的经济救灾基金提供了600亿美元。
大约在头两周，超过160万家企业耗尽了第一轮购买力平价融资，中小企业管理局表示，它在不到14天的时间里发放了“价值超过14年的贷款”。“这引发了一个问题，即新的资金将持续多久，以及立法者是否会早于晚于晚地第三次批准为小企业提供资金。小企业管理局没有回应新闻周刊该公司询问，自最初的资金减少以来，有多少小企业贷款申请在排队等候。
众议院多数党领袖斯坦尼·霍耶(民主党)在投票前告诉记者，“我们将看看下一笔钱会用得多快。”。"我们很可能不得不在此基础上进一步扩展."
参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(共和党)。)更加谨慎。他在投票后对记者表示:“我认为，我们应该在前进的过程中仔细调整哪些可行，哪些不可行，并更加谨慎，确保在我们进入下一阶段之前，每个人都是正式成员。”。
4月10日，蒙大拿州利文斯顿大街上，一个写着“购买当地产品”的招牌上有关闭的餐馆和商店。
该援助还指定250亿美元用于扩大冠状病毒检测战略，750亿美元用于医院和医疗保健提供者，这两个项目是民主党的主要症结。各州将领导扩大测试，这是共和党人反对民主党人希望联邦政府来处理的事情，因为全国各地将开始通过一系列阶段重新开放经济。
紧急救援计划预计最早将于本周四在国会获得通过，并由唐纳德·特朗普总统签署成为法律。
“不幸的是，我们的民主党同事花了12天时间才同意一项基本上没有共和党人反对的协议，”麦康奈尔在会上说。“在我看来，梅因街的小企业及其员工因党派利益而被切断援助是站不住脚的。”
最后4800亿美元的价格标签是国会民主党人近两周会谈的高潮，其中包括参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默(纽约州)和众议院议长南希·佩洛西(加利福尼亚州)，以及财政部长史蒂文·姆努钦。参议院民主党人阻止了共和党重新填充人民党的努力它用完的那天。在分配更多紧急小企业资金问题上，长期僵局持续存在，随着共和党和民主党提出决斗提案，这些资金很快就被耗尽。
舒默和佩洛西在一份联合声明中表示:“民主党人推翻了共和党人的应急计划，该计划没有留下医院、医疗和一线工作人员，也没有采取任何措施来帮助大街上最脆弱的小企业生存。”。舒默后来指责他的共和党同事试图“压倒”民主党。
(L-R)1月15日，美国国会大厦，美国参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默(民主党-纽约州)在国会金质奖章仪式上，看着多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(共和党-肯塔基州)讲话。
共和党人和穆努钦最初寻求在上周基金耗尽之前立即向基金注入另一笔无条件的2510亿美元。但民主党人首先希望得到保证，一部分资金将流向农村、少数民族和妇女拥有的小企业，他们说这些企业得不到充分服务。他们要求为医院、州和地方政府以及食品券提供更多资金。
穆努钦星期二在白宫冠状病毒特别工作组简报会上说，第一批公私合作贷款资金挽救了3000万个工作岗位。来自小企业管理局的数据显示，第一批资金的平均贷款规模为26万美元，其中74%不到15万美元。最大的行业接受者包括建筑、科学和技术服务、制造业、保健和社会援助、住宿和食品服务以及零售业。
最终，周二通过的最终版本为服务不足的小型企业提供了民主党的要求，如医院资金和购买力平价资金。它省去了地方和州政府、美国邮政服务、食品券、哥伦比亚特区和邮寄选票的更多资金。民主党誓言要“确保”被排除的条款被纳入随后的第四个一揽子计划。
“除非我们能解决健康问题，否则我们不会解决经济问题，”舒默在会上说。“我们可以给小企业贷款，但如果没有顾客上街，那有什么好处？”
犹他州的共和党参议员李政颖和肯塔基州的兰德·保罗在会上发言，呼吁国会立即休会，以便开展立法工作，并告诫国会领导人和政府官员在制定冠状病毒刺激计划的过程中，必须单独行动。两位议员都不反对周二的声音投票。
这项近5万亿美元的立法现在将提交众议院，预计将于周四获得通过，尽管可能不会没有戏剧性。霍耶敦促任何能够安全返回华盛顿的成员，期待共和党的一致反对。
众议员托马斯·马西(右)。)迫使数百名成员上个月返回，要求批准超过2万亿美元的刺激计划。他已经发出信号，他将通过阻止声音投票再次做同样的事情。
更多的自由民主党人，如国会进步核心小组(CPC)的成员，已经表达了他们的担忧，即该方案没有为挣扎中的美国人和地方政府提供足够的援助，他们可能不会支持该方案。然而，他们没有说他们会阻止一致通过。
“在不知道国会何时会重新召开会议并通过这么少的一笔钱的情况下，认为我们能通过这么少的一笔钱是一种侮辱，”众议员亚历山大·奥西奥·科尔特斯(Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)周一说，她补充道可能会拒绝支持这项措施。
议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔。)表示，在未来的立法中纳入其他筹资愿望的前景，让一些民主党人担心“现在放弃杠杆，而得不到我们需要的一些优先事项”
特朗普在两条推文中敦促国会议员批准拨款，这是对国会山共和党人的一个明确信号。总统补充说，地方和州政府资金、基础设施投资、餐馆、娱乐和体育产业的“税收激励”以及旨在“促进经济增长”的工资税削减等项目将在“下一个立法倡议”中得到解决。
众议院共和党领导层正积极鼓励其成员前往华盛顿——“如果他们能够安全到达，”少数党党鞭史蒂夫·斯卡利斯办公室的一份通知写道。)—支持小企业救济。
共和党领导层鼓励共和党人投票反对民主党人在大流行期间暂时改变众议院规则的努力，允许代理投票，并远程进行某些业务，如委员会听证会。斯卡利斯的办公室称之为“代理投票方案”。
SENATE APPROVES $480 BILLION MORE AID FOR SMALL BUSINESSES, HOSPITALS AND TESTING AFTER WEEKS OF PARTISAN INFIGHTING
On Tuesday, the Senate advanced by voice vote another relief package worth nearly half a trillion dollars for small businesses, hospitals and coronavirus testing after weeks of intense negotiations between Democrats and Republicans and the Trump administration.
The majority of the roughly $480 billion approved—$380 billion—is designed to replenish initiatives that provide small businesses with loans for operating and payroll costs, mainly the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that offers forgivable loans. The initial $349 billion assigned to the program under last month's $2.2 trillion stimulus ran dry last Thursday amid partisan infighting over how the fund should be refilled.
Of the approximately $380 billion for small businesses, $60 billion is set aside for community banks and "underbanked" businesses and non-profits that Democrats said lacked access to the program, such as those that are rural or owned by minorities or women. An additional $60 billion is provided for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) economic disaster relief fund.
More than 1.6 million businesses depleted the first round of PPP funding in roughly the first two weeks, with the SBA saying it doled out "more than 14 years' worth of loans in less than 14 days." That raises the question of how long the new money will last and whether lawmakers may sooner rather than later have to approve funds for small businesses a third time. The SBA did not respond to Newsweek's inquiry about how many small-business loan applications are waiting in the queue since the initial money was diminished.
"We'll see how quickly this next tranche of money will be used," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters before the vote. "We may well have to expand upon that."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) heeded more caution. "I think we ought to be carefully calibrating as we move along here what's working and what isn't and be a little more cautious and make sure everybody is here with full membership before we address another phase," he told reporters following the vote.
A sign reading "Buy Local" with closed restaurants and shops on Main Street on April 10 in Livingston, Montana.
The aid also designates $25 billion for an expanded coronavirus testing strategy and $75 billion for hospitals and health care providers, two items that were major sticking points for Democrats. States will lead the expansion of testing, something Republicans pushed for against Democratic wishes to have the federal government handle it as regions across the country will begin to reopen their economies through a series of phases.
The emergency relief is expected to pass Congress and be signed into law by President Donald Trump as early as this Thursday.
"It's unfortunate that it took our Democratic colleagues 12 days to agree to a deal that contains essentially nothing that Republicans ever opposed," McConnell said on the floor. "In my view, it's indefensible that Main Street's small businesses and their workers had their assistance cut off for partisan leverage."
The final $480 billion price tag was a culmination of almost two weeks of talks between congressional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Senate Democrats blocked a GOP effort to refill PPPthe day it ran out. A lengthy impasse persisted over appropriating more emergency small-business funding that was so quickly drained as Republicans and Democrats proposed dueling proposals.
"Democrats flipped this emergency package from an insufficient Republican plan that left behind hospitals and health and frontline workers and did nothing to aid the survival of the most vulnerable small businesses on Main Street," Schumer and Pelosi said in a joint statement. Schumer later accused his Republican colleagues of trying to "steamroll" Democrats.
(L-R) U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) looks on as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks during a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on January 15 in Washington, DC.
Republicans and Mnuchin originally sought to immediately inject another no-strings-attached $251 billion into the fund before it ran out last week. But Democrats first wanted assurances that a portion of the money would go to rural, minority and women-owned small businesses they say were underserved. They demanded more money for hospitals, state and local governments, and food stamps.
The first batch of PPP loan funding saved 30 million jobs, Mnuchin said Tuesday at the White House coronavirus task force briefing. Data from SBA showed the average loan size from the first tranche of money was $260,000, with 74 percent of them at less than $150,000. The top industry recipients included construction, scientific and technical services, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, accommodation and food services and retail.
Ultimately, the final version passed Tuesday provides Democratic asks like hospital funding and PPP money for underserved and small businesses. It omits more money for local and state governments, the U.S. Postal Service, food stamps, the District of Columbia and vote-by-mail efforts. Democrats have vowed to "see to it" that the excluded provisions be included in a subsequent fourth package.
"We're not going to cure the economic problem unless we can cure the health problem," Schumer said on the floor. "We can give loans to small businesses, but if there are no customers walking the streets, what good is that?"
GOP Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky gave floor speeches advocating for Congress to be immediately recalled from recess in order to conduct legislative business, admonishing the process by which congressional leaders and administration officials have worked exclusively among themselves to craft coronavirus stimulus packages. Neither lawmaker objected to Tuesday's voice vote.
The nearly half-trillion-dollar legislation now heads to the House, where it's expected to be approved Thursday, though likely not without drama. Hoyer is urging any member who can safely do so to return to Washington in anticipation of GOP opposition to unanimous consent.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) forced hundreds of members to return last month for the approval of the more than $2 trillion stimulus. He's signaled that he'll again do the same by blocking a voice vote.
More liberal Democrats, such as members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), have voiced concerns that the package stops short of providing enough aid to struggling Americans and local governments, and that they may not support it. However, they have stopped short of saying they'd block its unanimous passage.
"It is insulting to think we can pass such a small amount of money in the context of not knowing when Congress is even going to reconvene and pass such a small amount of money, pat ourselves on the back and then leave town again," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Monday, adding that she may refuse to back the measure.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), CPC co-chair, said the prospect of including other funding aspirations in future legislation has some Democrats concerned "about giving away leverage now without getting some of the priorities that we need."
In a clear signal to Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump urged lawmakers in a pair of tweets to approve the funding. Items like local and state government funding, infrastructure investments, "tax incentives" for the restaurant, entertainment and sports industries, and payroll tax cuts to "increase Economic Growth" would be addressed in the "next Legislative Initiative," the president added.
House Republican leadership is actively encouraging its members to travel to Washington—"if they are able to safely make it," read a notice to members from the office of Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.)—andsupport the small business relief.
GOP leadership is encouraging Republicans to vote against an effort by Democrats to temporarily change the chamber rules amid the pandemic to allow proxy voting and to conduct certain business, such as committee hearings, remotely. Scalise's office labeled it a "proxy voting scheme."
This story was updated to include information from the office of Rep. Scalise.
