Tag: economic relief

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: November 25, 2020


Governor Walz Outlines COVID-19 Economic Relief Package

On Tuesday, Governor Walz announced a COVID-19 economic relief package to keep businesses afloat, support workers struggling to get by, and help Minnesota families keep food on the table. Governor Walz will work with legislators on both sides of the aisle to move forward this much-needed proposal, integrate additional proposals, and call a special session when an agreement is final.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: November 25, 2020”

Yes, most workers can collect more in coronavirus unemployment than they earn – but that doesn’t mean Congress should cut the $600 supplement

Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic had been getting a US$600 bump on top of state benefits in their weekly unemployment checks since March. That ended on July 31, and lawmakers are debating whether to extend the program and if so by how much.

Senate Republicans are arguing it’s too generous to the 18 million who are unemployed and serves as a disincentive to returning to work. Their initial proposal in the ongoing negotiations would slash the benefit to $200 a week.

As an empirical economist, I wanted to see if their concerns about the disincentive were valid. So I analyzed data on earnings and unemployment benefits to estimate the share of benefit-eligible workers who could collect more on the dole than on the job. Continue reading.

COVID-19 spikes, but most governors signal they’re staying the course

The Hill logoThe coronavirus is spiking across more than a dozen states, but many governors are signaling they have no interest in bringing back restrictive stay-at-home orders almost regardless of what happens.

Even governors with detailed metrics for reopening have shown little appetite to plan for the inevitable virus surges. Public health experts say there are less drastic measures to take than reimposing lockdowns, but as the virus rages, they warn time may be running short.

“Once you see cases rise, it’s too late. [A rising] number of cases signifies a spread that’s already happened,” said Jen Kates, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. Continue reading.

Legislation Makes PPP Spending More Flexible

Legislation Makes PPP Spending More Flexible

The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act signed into law on June 5 eases some restrictions⁠—like the spending timeline and parameters⁠—but the adjustments don’t relieve the frustrations lenders and borrowers have expressed about the forgiveness application process.

The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips last month , has been eagerly anticipated by the hospitality industry, said Ben Wogsland, director of government relations for Hospitality Minnesota.

“This change is coming a little later than we would have liked for some people,” he said. “This is definitely going to help them in a big big way. It will make it so that more hospitality businesses are actually able to hit the metrics of the programs to be able to get the loans forgiven. That said, there’s open questions about how much more relief this industry may need to survive.” Continue reading.

Pelosi floats almost $1T for states in next relief package

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Democrats will push for including almost $1 trillion in the next coronavirus relief package to help states and local governments hit hard by the pandemic.

That figure, Pelosi said, would likely be the single largest line-item of the Democrats’ next emergency package, known as CARES 2, which is also expected to include hundreds of billions of dollars more to help workers, businesses and families weather the crisis.

“We’re not going to be able to cover all of it, but to the extent that we can keep the states and localities sustainable, that’s our goal,” Pelosi told reporters in the basement of the near-deserted Capitol. Continue reading.

San Juan Mayor Says ‘No One’ in Puerto Rico Has Received a COVID-19 Stimulus Check

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, has alleged that none of the island’s eligible residents have received their expected stimulus payments from the federal government.

In an appearance on MSNBC on Saturday, Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of the U.S. territory’s capital city, said the island has not yet benefited from one of the U.S. government’s signature responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: stimulus checks that are intended to put up to $1,200 into the hands of many Americans.

Cruz said that the island has been struggling to get resources to the people who need them most and has insufficient equipment and tests to check its residents for the virus. She also said the island has struggled to deliver $500 payments promised by the governor, new requests for food stamps and over 130,000 pending unemployment requests. Cruz and other mayors have had to rely on religious and community leaders to hand out food to citizens in need, she said. Continue reading.

McConnell says there will be a fourth coronavirus bill

The Hill logoSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday that there will be a fourth coronavirus bill and that health care should be a top priority as lawmakers draft the legislation.

McConnell, in an interview with The Associated Press, said that “there will be a next measure.”

“[It] should be more a targeted response to what we got wrong and what we didn’t do enough for — and at the top of the list there would have to be the health care part of it,” he said. Continue reading.