The following federal government’s activity in response to COVID-19 has occured since our last update on May 15th. Of note, late Friday, the Treasury Department released its Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness application (links below).
Congress
Late Friday evening, the House passed its $3 trillion Heroes Act by a largely party-line
vote of 208-199.
See Speaker Pelosi’s Saturday Dear Colleague here.
- The bill remains a nonstarter in the Republican-controlled Senate, which isn’t expected to move forward on another relief bill for at least a few more weeks.
Today, the bipartisan Congressional Oversight Commission
published its initial report, as mandated by the CARES Act.
The Senate is in session this week, focused on clearing additional nominations. The House is not in session this week, but will return for a few days next week to consider the Senate-passed FISA reauthorization.
See our
Friday update for a listing of COVID-related hearings in both chambers this week. One of the biggest newsmakers is likely to be tomorrow morning’s Senate Banking Committee remote
hearing on the Quarterly CARES Act Report to Congress, with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell scheduled to testify.
See Secretary Mnuchin’s prepared statement here.
Recent Congressional Statements / Letters
- Senators Cassidy, Menendez Introduce Bipartisan SMART Fund to Help Frontline States, Communities in COVID-19 Fight, May 18, 2020
- In Letter to Secretary Chao, Cantwell Calls for Uniform National Social Distancing Guidelines for Aviation Sector, May 18, 2020
- Rosen, Harris Lead Colleagues in Call for Funding for State Unemployment Agencies in Future Coronavirus-Related Legislation, May 15, 2020
- Senate Democrats Introduce Bill to Boost Nonprofit Workforce as Coronavirus Crushes Resources, May 15, 2020
Other Stakeholder Letters / Statements
White House / Agency Activity
White House
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Department of Labor
Food and Drug Administration
National Institutes of Health
Housing and Urban Development
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Trade Commission
Federal Reserve
Periodic Report: Update on Outstanding Lending Facilities Authorized by the Board under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, May 15, 2020
Regulators temporarily change the supplementary leverage ratio to increase banking organizations' ability to support credit to households and businesses in light of the coronavirus response, May 15, 2020
State / Local Activity
Given the plethora of state and local actions, we recommend MultiState’s
COVID-19 Policy Tracker as a comprehensive tool to monitor the response.
[View source.]