Get ready for another round of stimulus money, because Mnuchin says it’s definitely needed in order save parts of the economy still damaged from the pandemic takedown:
BLOOMBERG – Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the U.S. “definitely” needs additional fiscal stimulus — particularly funding for industries struggling to reopen from coronavirus-related closures.
“I definitely think we are going to need another bipartisan legislation to put more money into the economy,” Mnuchin said Wednesday before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. “Whatever we do going forward needs to be much more targeted to the industries and small businesses that are having the most difficulty reopening as a result of Covid-19.”
Democrats have been seeking an additional funding bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing for nearly $1 trillion in state and local aid to make up for revenue lost during the Covid-19 pandemic and has argued that failure to enact the funding would lead to job losses. President Donald Trump said he’ll ask Congress to pass more economic stimulus, including a payroll tax cut.
Mnuchin singled out the retail, travel and leisure industries as needing more help. He said retailers lost more than 2 million jobs in April, but just 16% of those workers returned in May.
“I do think the economy is going to rebound significantly, but there is still significant damage in parts of the economy,” Mnuchin said. “We’re going to use all of our fiscal tools to work with Congress” to “restore this economy to where it was.”
Mnuchin said that capital gains tax cuts have been discussed but indicated he didn’t think that was a good approach.
He said it appears there will be $130 billion in PPP funds remaining after the Small Business Administration stops taking new applications June 30. Mnuchin told Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana that he’s open to the idea of repurposing money from the small business relief loan program to help businesses hurt by recent looting.
This stimulus bill being discussed could also send another round of direct payments to individuals:
FOX BUSINESS – Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday the Trump administration will “seriously look” at sending another round of direct cash payments to some Americans in the fourth coronavirus relief package.
“I think we’re going to seriously look at whether we want to do more direct money to stimulate the economy,” Mnuchin said while testifying before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. “But I think this is all going to be about getting people back to work, and we look forward to working with the entire Senate on this one.”
Mnuchin seems less sure about direct payments than he does about the other. But it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone ends up getting another check in the mail.
Honestly, the best stimulus that we can give businesses is to take the reins off and let them resume work at their full capacity. This pandemic shutdown has already caused enough damage and unless we do that it’ll keep killing more jobs and businesses.