White House says new small business loan program is out of money, leaving many firms grasping for lifelinesLawmakers can’t agree on how to update the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which Republicans say ran out of money in just two weeks Washington Post, Apr 16, 2020
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Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked Congress to agree to $250 billion more for the program, but a GOP attempt to approve that increase failed in the Senate as Democrats demanded more money for hospitals, cities and states and food stamp recipients.
There has been scant progress since. Talks finally started Wednesday with aides to Mnuchin, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), but they seemed unlikely to yield results in time for action at a Senate “pro forma†session scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Any deal would have to advance by voice vote or “unanimous consent†that any individual lawmaker could block.
The need is only deepening on all sides, as new figures out Thursday showed unemployment claims once again surged over the past week, with 5.2 million people filing for unemployment insurance. More than 22 million Americans have now filed for unemployment aid since Trump declared a national emergency four weeks ago.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), principle author of the Paycheck Protection Program, lashed out at Democrats in an appearance Thursday morning on Fox Business, accusing them of standing in the way of increasing its funding.
“in just 12 days this program has approved over $300 billion in aid and now it’s frozen, it stops, and it’s ridiculous,†Rubio said. “It’s being held hostage for things unrelated to it.â€
Trump attacked Pelosi viciously over Twitter, apparently responding to a scathing letter she released earlier this week accusing him of weakness and lies.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/04/16/congress-coronavirus-small-business-trump/
