Members Zoom with U.S. Senator Todd Young on the CARES Act

U.S. Senator Todd Young of Indiana spoke and answered questions from 1si members for forty-five minutes yesterday during 1si’s inaugural Zoom meeting. Moderated by Wendy Dant Chesser, 1si president and CEO and Events Manager Amber Ruoff, the senator, who is on both the Congressional Finance and Small Business Committees, spent time going over the third phase of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis. 

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, is the largest economic relief bill in U.S. history and will allocate $2.2 trillion in support to individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic and economic downturn. The act includes three separate points. 

The first is direct economic support to individuals. All Americans are eligible for checks up to $1,200 and married couples filing jointly are eligible for checks up to $2,400, with an extra $500 for each child under the age of 17, if those individuals make less than $75,000 (or $150,000 jointly). The amount received will be determined by income reported on individuals last tax filing and will be directly deposited into taxpayers’ bank accounts. The Senator assured attendees these payments should be rolling out in the very near future.

The CARES Act also provides an additional $600 per week through July 31, 2020 for those individuals who file unemployment with the state.

The second emphasis of the CARES Act is support for employers. Detailed information on these programs can be found here. These measures include employee retention refundable payroll tax credits, which can provide up to 50 percent of an employee’s wage, a payroll tax deferment and other measures. Businesses with less than 500 employees are also eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program, which expands the existing 7(a) SBA loan program to provide $350 billion of payroll support. This program is also available for those who are self-employed and “gig economy” individuals as well as certain nonprofits, veteran organizations and tribal businesses. Finally, the CARES Act provides $500 billion in emergency relief through SBA loans. Details of this program can be found here.

The third part of the CARES Act is direct support for hospitals, health care organizations and those on the front lines battling the Coronavirus. This is directly related to providing free COVID-19 testing, and when available, vaccinations, dealing with supply shortages, healthcare workers and access to patients. A summary of this can be found here.

According to Senator Young, “The most fiscally irresponsible thing we could have done was nothing.” He added that once the third phase was distributed, lawmakers would assess the situation and see if more funding will be needed to spur a recovery.
 
When asked how members of 1si might start to plan for a recovery, Senator Young suggested creating a list of innovations made in each business to cope with the crisis and then convert the idea to a non-crisis mode – taking what we have learned and use it to be more efficient and environmentally conservative.

To see a full recording of the 45 minutes session, click here.