On Tuesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell made a surprise announcement that he was going to move an additional $250 billion supplement to the small business lending program in the coronavirus relief package as fast as Thursday of this week, implying he had worked it out with Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. He hadn't. With McConnell finally conceding the necessity of more and urgent spending, Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are upping the stakes, conditioning further aid to small businesses on more assistance to hospitals, health centers, and nutrition assistance.
For the $250 billion that McConnell—and the White House—are demanding, the Democratic leaders are countering with conditions on that lending. They want $125 billion of it be channeled through community lenders serving "serve farmers, family, women, minority and veteran-owned small businesses and nonprofits in rural, tribal, suburban and urban communities" as well as "improvements to ensure all eligible small businesses can access this critical funding and are not turned away by banks."
But they also want to address the ongoing and immediate needs of the health care system and vulnerable people, with $100 billion for hospitals, community health centers, and health systems, "including production and distribution of national rapid testing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)." With Trump's abdication of responsibility and states bearing the brunt of the crisis, they also want an additional $150 billion for state and local governments to help manage their response and make up for lost revenue. They are demanding a 15% increase to the maximum benefit for people getting food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
They promise more: "After we pass this interim emergency legislation, Congress will move to pass a CARES 2 Act that will extend and expand the bipartisan CARES Act to meet the needs of the American people," write Schumer and Pelosi. "CARES 2 must provide transformational relief as the American people weather this assault on their lives and livelihoods."
Without the expanded unemployment insurance and paid leave, without additional direct cash payments, without provisions to pay for everyone's treatment, without vote-by-mail funding for all the states to secure our elections, without all that in Schumer and Pelosi's demands for the next tranche of funds, CARES 2 had damned well better happen.