Amid Economic Fallout of COVID-19 Pandemic, Comptroller Stringer Calls for Direct and Immediate Economic Relief in Federal Stimulus

(New York, NY) —​ As Congress drafts the federal stimulus bill there are several key proposals that are imperative to give immediate relief to struggling families, businesses, and non-profits and support state and local governments in providing critical frontline emergency services:

• Direct Cash Assistance: Cash relief to hard-pressed families and individuals should not be conditioned on taxpayer status. Anyone, regardless of taxpayer or immigration status or earnings, should be able to get a check, based on family size, now.

• ​Small Business & Non-Profits: Congress must extend forgivable loans to small businesses and non-profits to keep employees on the payroll–even while they’re closed. These loans should come with the condition that the money be targeted to paying frontline workers–not executives or investors. This measure will allow businesses to survive and re-open once we get through this crisis and the state of emergency is over. Congress must approporiate enough funding to ensure that every small business and non-profit that has been forced by current circumstances to close is able to access funding.  Congress should also provide some funding directly to States to adminster the program, since the federal SBA will be hard-pressed to administer the program by itself in a timely way.

• Unemployment Insurance: Unemployment insurance weekly benefits should be immediately increased, and their duration extended to at least 39 weeks.  The waiting period for benefits should be eliminated.

• Paid Sick Leave: There should be no limits placed on emergency paid leave.  At a time when we need workers and businesses to heed urgent public health guidance to prevent the spread of COVID-19, limits on paid sick leave would only serve to undermine that goal. Instead, Congress should implement measures to make small businesses whole for costs incurred for sick leave and family leave.

• State and Local Government Fiscal Stabilization Fund: It is imperative that frontline state and local governments get the federal support they need to address this public health emergency and the economic impact of widespread business closures.  A State and Local Government Fiscal Stabilization Fund of at least $100 billion initially should be part of this round of federal stimulus, with amounts to State and local governments determined by the scale of need, including the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the scale of loss of tax and other revenues, and the amount of available reserves.

• • Student Debt Relief: Congress should place a moratorium on student debt repayments, with consideration given to cancellation of debt repayments altogether during the emergency period.

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