Senator Joni Ernst.
Republican U.S. Senator Joni Ernst says she supports letting businesses get a second federal COVID-19 relief grant that can be converted to a loan — if the business uses 60 percent of the money to cover payroll and employee benefits..
“We still do have $100 billion-plus sitting in the Paycheck Protection Program fund that has not been utilized or allocated to businesses yet,” Ernst says, “so it is possible and I am pushing for a second round for those heavily affected businesses — allow them to come back in and support their employees through the Paycheck Protection Program.”
President Trump has expressed interest in a second round of stimulus checks to individual Americans. House Democrats support the move, but some Senate Republicans have expressed opposition. Ernst has been non-committal that specific proposal, but she says senators will develop some sort of second economic stimulus plan this summer.
“And we would anticipate seeing that maybe move through congress mid-July to early part of August,” Ernst says.
Congress is currently on recess. The Senate is to reconvene July 20th.
(By Dennis Morrice, KLEM, Le Mars)