�������ýҕ�l

The debate over whether Congress will approve a new round of pandemic aid is over. Now it’s just a question of what’s in the package. After brushing off Democrats’ demands for more relief, Senate Republicans now say the next major coronavirus package is likely to move in the coming weeks. And a key conflict ahead will be over how to help the 40 million Americans out of work. (Levine and Ferris, 5/31)

The coronavirus pandemic shook the U.S. economy. It hasn’t shaken Democrats’ fervor for trillions of dollars in tax increases, and significant income redistribution is still likely as soon as 2021 if Joe Biden wins the White House and Democrats control Congress. Democratic lawmakers and policy aides worry little that planned tax increases on corporations and high-income households would hinder the economic recovery. If anything, they argue that economic disparities evident during the pandemic make these tax increases more necessary. (Rubin, 5/31)

One small-town Oklahoma mayor testified before Congress she’s worried the city’s 18-bed hospital can’t handle a second Covid-19 wave. Many counties are slashing sizable chunks of their government work force. States are staring down red ink as the fiscal year comes to a close. As local leaders are pleading for more federal aid — even before protests over police violence erupted in almost every corner of the country — the Senate resumes session Monday with no immediate plans to consider a fresh round of relief. (Mascaro, 6/1)

Two U.S. House of Representatives Democrats on Friday launched an inquiry into whether the Health and Human Services Department misdirected billions of dollars in coronavirus stimulus money to healthcare providers facing criminal or civil fraud investigations. (Lynch and Taylor, 5/29)

The Paycheck Protection Program, the federal government’s ambitious effort to keep workers at small businesses off the unemployment rolls through the worst of the pandemic, has provided a financial safety net to more than four million companies. For many, the money was a lifeline. It let a trucking company keep paying drivers who would otherwise have been laid off and gave a group of therapists time to adjust to telemedicine and connect with new clients. But the pandemic’s devastation continues. (Cowley, 5/31)

Policy makers are trying to ensure that communities underserved by traditional banks are getting access to a small-business coronavirus loan-relief program, but it has turned out to be more of an art than a science. When the Small Business Administration released the application form for the forgivable loan program, there was no instruction for lenders to collect optional demographic information. The agency’s inspector general in a recent report noted that omission and said “it is unlikely that SBA will be able to determine the loan volume” to borrowers in underserved and rural markets. (Omeokwe, 5/31)