News from the United States Chamber of Commerce

Daily intelligence brief directly from Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley

Washington, DC: Regrettably, Washington gridlock and partisanship has delayed passage of the Phase 3 COVID-19 response bill. As a reminder, this bill is critical to providing businesses of all sizes and across all sectors with access to the financial support necessary to remain open and support their employees during a time of significantly reduced revenue. The bill includes the top three priorities the Chamber has advocated for over the past week:

• Suspension / delay of tax payments by businesses to improve liquidity for employers
• Dedicated small business lending programs focused on helping companies continue to pay their employees
• A Federal Reserve lending facility to support loans to mid-size and larger employers

Amidst failed cloture votes in the Senate and lots of finger-pointing, we remain confident that this core package will soon become law, for the simple reason that it has to. There is no alternative. We now expect that the key elements of this package will become law by midweek – and our team is going to keep working around the clock to ensure that gets done.