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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Senate Passes $484 Billion Coronavirus Funding Bill

Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.

Update (1710ET): The Senate has passed a $484 billion interim coronavirus funding bill on Thursday via voice vote, following over a week of delay by top Democrats. The bill passed 12 days after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was blocked from passing his $250 billion "clean" PPP bill, as Democrats demanded additional funding for state governments and hospitals.

$322 billion of the new package will go towards replenishing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), of which roughly $60 billion will be doled out by small lenders and community banks.

The rest of the bill includes $75 billion for hospitals, $60 billion for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program designed to help small businesses and communities in underserved areas, and $25 billion to expand testing.

Not included was $150 billion in aid for state and local governments sought by the Democrats, according to Axios.

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Update (1500ET): According to an overnight report by Goldman Sachs, approximately $650 billion in total funding "would cover close to all PPP-eligible expenses" for the next eight weeks – though $750 billion is actually needed.

This suggests that the $250 billion included in the impending coronavirus aid expansion, bringing the overall total to just under $600 billion, leaves a shortfall of roughly roughly $150 billion.

Using data from the Census on firm size by employee count and industry and IRS data on business expenses, we estimate that 8 weeks of expenses eligible for PPP loan forgiveness amounts to be about $750bn. -Goldman Sachs

According to the report, the accommodation and food services sector benefited the most from PPP.

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Update (1300ET): A deal to expand virus aid has been reached, which will include more than $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), $60 billion for small lenders, $60 billion in disaster relief loans, over $75 billion for hospitals, and $25 billion for testing, according to CNBC's Kayla Tausche.

President Trump says he will sign the interim virus relief bill, while CNBC's Tausche says Trump is urging lawmakers to back the newly reached PPP expansion. It is unclear whether the Senate will vote on this during today's 4pm pro forma session, as it will need unanimous support to move forward.

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Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says he thinks the Senate will pass an additional relief bill for small businesses on Tuesday.

"I think we will be able to pass this today," the Senate Minority Leader said in comments to CNN, adding that last night he was speaking "well past midnight" with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and that the four of them "came to an agreement on just about every issue," according to CNBC.

Negotiations come after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who has $24,000 in fully stocked fridges, held up the "clean" funding bill which the GOP rushed to introduce in order to replenish the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program which ran out of funds last week (after hedge funds, large businesses, and publicly traded companies successfully tapped the funds – which banks have been accused in a lawsuit of doling out to large customers first).

"Staff were up all night, writing. There’s still a few more Is to dot and Ts to cross, but we have a deal. And I believe we’ll pass it today," said Schumer.

As of Sunday night, Democrats and Republicans were negotiating a deal that would allocate $310 billion more into the Paycheck Protection Program, setting aside $60 billion of that sum for rural and minority groups. Another $60 billion would go to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, a separate program offering loans for small businesses administered by the Small Business Association.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the deal could include $75 billion in funding for hospitals and $25 billion in funding for testing. –CNBC

Democrats have also held up small business relief in order to shift funds to states and local governments, some of which are facing dire cash situations.

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