McHenry on CARES Act: The American People Need this Done Quickly
Washington,
March 26, 2020 -
The top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, Patrick McHenry (NC-10), joined Bloomberg Markets: Balance of Power to discuss the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which is expected to be considered in the House tomorrow. This legislation provides critical support to workers, families, and small businesses hardest hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Watch Ranking Member McHenry’s full interview on Balance of Power here, or by clicking the image above.
On the need for immediate aid for small businesses:
“[Small businesses] can immediately go to their community bankers once this bill is signed into law. Those community banks—those banks of all sizes—will have greater capacity to work with people, to structure their loans, to get them through this cash crunch in the next month to three months that they are experiencing. … For the small businessperson, someone who has a day care, a dry cleaner, somebody who is cleaning other people's homes, they are the ones who are being severely impacted, and they are the ones who desperately need relief.”
On Democrats’ unnecessary delay of this relief:
“I wish we had gotten the bill passed over the weekend rather than it being strung out all week. You see, the jobless claims have soared, five times worse than the worst job numbers we have ever seen. So, I wish we had gotten this bill passed five days ago rather than the haggling that has gone on, that have just driven the price tag up and not the relief numbers up. I think the American people need this done quickly. I have concerns about the capacity of the federal government in terms of technology. That is why I have worked intently to have redundancy in programs. If the SBA can't deliver, we need the Treasury to deliver, and the Treasury to deliver with the Federal Reserve, rather than just allow one agency of government to bear the brunt of the release mechanism. We are working on those redundancy issues.”
On the need for an appropriate legislative response to COVID-19:
“I see a lot of people in Washington are desperate for more action for their pet priorities. I think we have to see what the needs are of the American people. If we can get through the next couple of weeks without having a crushing debt load on small businesses across the country, and then in the summer months, once you can get past these rising number of coronavirus cases—once we bend this curve and actually get these new cases down—people can emerge to normal economic life, and that normal life will be a stronger economy, getting back to the normal business of America. I think those things can happen without government action. What we are doing right now is responding like this is a natural disaster. That means getting people stood back up and back on their feet.”
For more COVID-19 updates, view the committee’s resource page here.
