Schumer Sees Tuesday Passage Of Small Business Relief, Says ‘Agreement On Just About Every Issue’

Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says he thinks the Senate will pass an additional relief bill for small businesses on Tuesday.

“I think we will be able to pass this today,” the Senate Minority Leader said in comments to CNN, adding that last night he was speaking “well past midnight” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and that the four of them “came to an agreement on just about every issue,” according to CNBC.

BREAKING: @SenSchumer says a deal could be voted on as soon as today to add $$$ to depleted small business loan fund. More at 6a on @KIRO7Seattle pic.twitter.com/c0K96ziaWe

— Matthew Smith (@MattSmithKIRO7) April 21, 2020

Negotiations come after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who has $24,000 in fully stocked fridges, held up the “clean” funding bill which the GOP rushed to introduce in order to replenish the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program which ran out of funds last week (after hedge funds, large businesses, and publicly traded companies successfully tapped the funds – which banks have been accused in a lawsuit of doling out to large customers first).

“Staff were up all night, writing. There’s still a few more Is to dot and Ts to cross, but we have a deal. And I believe we’ll pass it today,” said Schumer.

As of Sunday night, Democrats and Republicans were negotiating a deal that would allocate $310 billion more into the Paycheck Protection Program, setting aside $60 billion of that sum for rural and minority groups. Another $60 billion would go to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, a separate program offering loans for small businesses administered by the Small Business Association.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the deal could include $75 billion in funding for hospitals and $25 billion in funding for testing. –CNBC

Democrats have also held up small business relief in order to shift funds to states and local governments, some of which are facing dire cash situations.