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ASTA’s wish list for the fourth round of federal coronavirus relief funding includes an expansion of the Paycheck Protection Program, additional funding for other programs and airline customer service commitments.
Thus far, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (Cares) Act has been the largest round of relief at $2 trillion, approved last month. Before that were the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
“While we appreciate the support Congress provided for agencies, agency employees and independent contractors as part of the Cares Act, it is clear that more needs to be done,” said Eben Peck, ASTA’s executive vice president of advocacy. “Our recommendations for the next round of coronavirus relief legislation are largely informed by gaps in and implementation issues with the programs in the Cares Act and are based on extensive consultations with our members over the past few weeks.”
The Society has been in touch with legislators, the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration, Peck said. Those talks will continue.
According to published reports, members of Congress have been discussing the potential relief package since early April.
ASTA has five main requests for the next round of coronavirus relief:
• Expansion of the Paycheck Protection Program, which was introduced under the Cares Act as a way for small businesses (500 or fewer employees) to keep workers on their payrolls. ASTA has concerns that the $349 billion in funding will dry up quickly, that last-minute rules from the SBA make this program less attractive, that agencies with more than 500 employees or independent contractiros will be left without relief, and that its provisions for hiring employees back are “overly restrictive” and encourage businesses to beef up their payrolls when business is at a standstill. ASTA provided a number of changes that would make the program more favorable, including increasing the employee cap for eligibility to 2,000 and increasing funding to $750 billion.
• Additional funding for ticket agent loans, also introduced under the Cares Act. Under that act, the Treasury Department can make up to $25 billion in loans and loan guarantees for airlines, airline-related businesses (like inspection or repair stations) and ticket agents. While it is unknown how much of that $25 billion will be set aside for ticket agents, ASTA is requesting additional funding to ensure travel agencies are able to get adequate funding.
• Additional funding for another Cares Act provision, the Emergency Economic Injury Program, enabling small businesses to receive up to $10,000 for immediate business expenses as they wait for additional relief from an Economic Injury Disaster Loan. The Society said early member feedback indicates the program was “quickly overwhelmed” and the SBA capped emergency grants at $1,000 with total loans limited to $15,000. ASTA would like an additional $50 billion in funding for this program.
• Enhanced support for employees of larger businesses. ASTA said it is supportive of the U.S. Travel Association and American Hotel & Lodging Association recommendations to enhance the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund because it will help larger businesses retain employees and stay solvent. The Society is supportive of amending the Cares Act so ESF loan forgiveness mirrors PPP loan forgiveness. Then, larger businesses could benefit from up to three months of loan forgiveness for employee retention and expenses.
• ASTA is also asking Congress to use the next bill to require a number of things of airlines, including relaxing existing fare rules and providing refunds for flights through the end of the year, refraining from issuing debit memos to agencies for credit card chargebacks on canceled trips for which the airlines have refused refunds, and fully refunding flights canceled by the carrier when requested by the consumer.
“This remains the biggest crisis our industry has ever faced, and our goal is the same at the start of the crisis — to fight as hard as we can to get the most financial relief for the largest number of our members as possible,” Peck said.
Source: travelweekly.com
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SBA limits grants now to $1,000 per employee and PPP grant is for 8 weeks pay + some overhead. I applied for both as soon as applications were online. Not heard from either SBA or bank. They certainly aren’t playing FIFO. As an IC working on 1099’s my state automatically denied my unemployment claim despite CARES.
I see funding from the CARES Act is going to be an issue for agencies, and a bigger issue for independents. Each bank has limited funds to distribute. I have a feeling they are going to take care of their larger customers first in applications. By the time they come around to agencies that do $20 mil or less, and independents, funds will be dried up. They may be cherry picking. Capital One ( a major bank) still isn’t even accepting applications yet 11 days after this went into affect. They are testing with certain accounts, and we know what that means. Wells Fargo went thru their funds in a couple days and aren’t taking anymore from what I heard. Yet the program goes thru June. What does that tell you? Good luck everyone.