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Vermont’s congressional delegation outlined Thursday their top priorities if another coronavirus relief package is proposed, an idea congressional Republicans have so far not supported.
During a virtual town hall hosted by Vermont Businesses For Social Responsibility, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said they are hoping to make federal aid easier for small businesses to use, give the state more flexibility how it can spend $1.25 billion in federal Covid-19 relief and make sure any additional package includes funds for expanded broadband internet.
Leahy, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he has been working with Republicans to expand the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program’s (PPP) coverage window from eight weeks to 16. He is also pushing to have a larger portion of the money be allowed to be used for rent.
Welch, who has also advocated changes to the PPP, said the SBA program has been helpful for many businesses, but is too restrictive.
“That’s got to be changed, because in the real world it simply is too restrictive for the intended purpose — namely the survival of the small businesses,” Welch said. “The conditions are too restrictive to achieve that goal.”
Many of Vermont’s restaurants and alcohol producers have notified the delegation that the PPP has failed to be an effective tool to combat the economic crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like the business community, the state Legislature and the Scott administration have also told the delegation that the federal guidelines on the $1.25 billion, awarded to the state by the CARES Act, are far too limiting, particularly because it cannot currently be used to fill revenue shortfalls.Â
“My view is we should send really substantial money back to the states, back to Vermont,” Welch said. “Vermont should have a good deal of flexibility about how best to use that money, fill in the holes or to create opportunity.”
Leahy said he is also negotiating broadband money for rural states and that it should be considered the same as making sure every home in Vermont has electricity — the senator mused that the internet in his Middlesex home “works probably 10% of the time.”
“None of us would accept having a home without electricity,” Leahy said. “Broadband is just as necessary as that. I’m urging for more money to go into the next Covid bill that would go to broadband.”Â
“I don’t know how Vermont’s economy can fully recover, unless we have universal broadband,” Leahy said.
Sanders said he had been pushing for health care reform which would guarantee people could access Covid-19 treatment even if they are uninsured or underinsured.
“What I worry about right now is with so many people losing their health insurance, what do we do,” Sanders said. “At least in this emergency — forget Medicare for All for the moment — but at least in this emergency, what we have got to do is make sure that every person in this country has coverage right now.”
Under Sanders’ proposal, Medicare would supplement private health insurance, and provide coverage to the uninsured and the underinsured for the duration of the crisis to make sure that people who lose their jobs still have health insurance.
“There’s a lot of recognition that we’ve got to have Covid care for all,” Welch added. “And what’s really the difference, are we going to have coverage for everybody if they’re ill with one illness, but it’s pick and choose if you’re ill for something else?”
Sanders said the crisis has highlighted the fragility of tying health care to employment when many people across the country are losing their jobs.
Sanders is also advocating for the federal government to send $2,000 per month to all workers throughout the course of the coronavirus crisis. This proposal was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who frequently collaborates with Sanders on legislation.
However, while the U.S. Senate returned to session Monday, there is little agreement between Republicans and Democrats over the breadth and scale of the next Covid-19 spending package.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other Republicans are resisting passing another sweeping measure after Congress has already approved nearly $3 trillion in legislation, while Democrats are trying to move ahead swiftly with another aid package as unemployment continues to rise across the country.
“We have Republican leadership that is very hesitant to do anything anymore,” Sanders said Thursday.
“We are working very hard to force the Congress, and especially Mitch McConnell and Trump, to move as quickly as we can, as aggressively as we can, to pass another major emergency bill,” he added. “It has to be done.”
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