Letter to the Hon. Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Dept. of the Treasury, and the Hon. Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System - McHenry, Crapo Call on Treasury and Federal Reserve to Fully Utilize COVID-19 Relief Funds

Letter

Dear Secretary Mnuchin and Chairman Powell:

House and Senate Democrats continue to block legislation that is critical to support our nation's ongoing COVID-19 response and economic recovery, leaving millions of businesses and their employees in jeopardy. We urge you to continue your efforts to support these businesses and their employees by utilizing the remaining funds appropriated by Congress to the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) to its fullest extent.

The CARES Act provides a critical economic backstop with the potential to unleash trillions more in liquidity. That liquidity will allow our financial institutions to continue to provide credit flows to businesses and ultimately support workers across the country. Specifically, the ESF supports the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) to help small and mid-sized businesses and their employees that were otherwise in good financial standing before the public health crisis. The purpose of the ESF is to provide the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve maximum discretion to expand MSLP and support more businesses.

The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve should do more with the ESF and the MSLP to provide support to Main Street businesses, their workers, and our American economy. Congress was clear in its intent; now it's time to implement it. The support that an enhanced MSLP will provide to the overall economy, our Main Street businesses, and their workers will outweigh the potential losses to the Treasury.

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