Additional aid for small firms backed

Indiana's U.S. senators said Tuesday they are wary of spending too much federal money too fast to mitigate economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

But Republican Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun each supported the White House's request for Congress to add $250 billion to the $350 billion virus loan fund for businesses employing fewer than 500 people. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Senate might try to vote on the proposal as early as Thursday, either by voice vote or the unanimous consent of senators present.

“This program was designed to keep our Main Street businesses solvent,” Young said in a telephone interview. “And we want to make sure that all of our employers enjoy a bridge to the back end of this health care crisis. Demand has clearly been exceeding supply based on current trend lines, and it appears we will need to plus up the program.”

Braun's office said in an email that “Congress should make sure the fund meets the needs of small businesses.”

Many businesses have either reduced or shut down operations as governors across the nation order people to stay home to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The Payroll Protection Program is part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package approved last month by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump. Trump announced Tuesday that banks had processed $70 billion in loan applications from more than 225,000 businesses since the program started Friday. Loan money used for payroll, rent and certain other business expenses can be forgiven.

In an interview Tuesday morning, before Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made public his request for the additional loan money, Braun said he was “amenable” to increasing federal aid to small businesses. The original loan fund amount, he predicted, would be “pushed close to that limit” by applicants.

Braun expressed concern about reported discussions among congressional leaders regarding a possible $1 trillion boost in broader assistance for coronavirus-related relief.

“For government to think that we can keep doing more and more – it would be different if we had a balance sheet that was different from what we have going into it,” Braun said about the federal budget deficit, which was $1.1 trillion before the coronavirus spending. “The only blessing is that the private economy is as strong as it's ever been, and I think that will give it resilience. But for any of us out there in D.C., throwing trillions around, I think you've got to be a little careful with it.”

Future virus relief spending should be “very narrowly aimed at anybody we missed” in earlier legislation, he said, as well as “the entities and individuals that are most impacted” by COVID-19

“I want to give up no ground on what we've invested in social distancing, in hygiene, in avoiding large groups,” Braun said. “But on the other side, I'm going to be leaning more toward a smart reopening of the economy from the lowest risk places and then rolling it back into motion in higher risk places over time, rather than the emphasis on government going forward.

“I think we need to get back to where we smartly turn things back on so we don't have to be guessing through government what's best for Main Street,” he said.

Braun complained that some legislators had tried to “put a grab bag of policy stuff” in previous relief bills. Later Tuesday, Young warned of a “wish list for House Democrat policies as we've seen proposed.”

“I think we should take a cautious, conservative approach,” Young said, “see how the implementation of our most recent package goes, perhaps make some administrative or modest legislative changes along the way. But I think it's premature to be discussing a large wish list at this point.”

bfrancisco@jg.net