Chamber Members:
Halfway through the week and our countdown to the government funding deadline is now 9 days. Another new relief proposal is on the table following the proposal from a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers that introduced a $908 billion bill although they didn’t have buy in from leadership or the White House.
Read on for information about PPP borrower data release, new CDC quarantine guidelines, planning for the end of the pandemic, and how air travel is predicted to change. Don’t forget about the Town Hall Conversation coming up on the 10th as well.
*Daily Coronavirus update brought to you by Silver Cross Hospital
Second New Covid Aid Proposal
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell circulated a new coronavirus relief proposal that could garner support from the White House among Senate Republicans on Tuesday. McConnell, during a weekly press conference on Tuesday, said he had been speaking with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about what President Trump could sign.
“I think we have a sense of what that is. … We’re going to send that out to all the offices and get some feedback to see how our members react,” McConnell said. “We don’t have time for messaging games. We don’t have time for lengthy negotiations,” McConnell added.
McConnell outlined the bill during a GOP caucus call on Tuesday, but did not provide details during his press conference about if there are any substantive differences between that in the new bill. But the proposal, according to a copy of the outline obtained by The Hill, would provide protections against coronavirus-related lawsuits, extend unemployment insurance for roughly a month and provide another round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) small business assistance. It would also provide more money for the Postal Service, schools, testing and vaccine distribution.
If Congress is going to pass additional relief, McConnell said he expected it would be folded into a must-pass government funding bill. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer have pointed to $2.2 trillion as their starting point. McConnell said the two Democratic leaders made him a new offer on coronavirus relief on Monday. Pelosi, in a statement, said she had raised the prospects of another coronavirus bill with Mnuchin.
“Secretary Mnuchin said he would be reviewing the proposal Leader Schumer and I made to Leader McConnell and Leader McCarthy last night and the bipartisan Senate proposal unveiled today. Additional COVID relief is long overdue and must be passed in this lame duck session,” she said.
Government Funding Update
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby signaled on Tuesday that negotiators are unlikely to get a government funding deal this week as talks appear poised to go down to the wire. Earlier today, he followed up yesterday’s statement with the prediction that a continuing resolution is much more likely.
Shelby didn’t rule out that lawmakers would be able to reach an agreement this week but acknowledged that it would be “hard” as they try to iron out a slew of policy fights within the mammoth package.
Congress has until Dec. 11 to pass either an omnibus, which would include all 12 of the fiscal 2021 funding bills, or a continuing resolution (CR) that continues fiscal 2020 spending levels. Shelby, tipping his hand to the likelihood that Congress brushes up against that deadline, predicted that lawmakers would still be in Washington for another couple of weeks.
Shelby said on Tuesday that negotiators have until Dec. 9, two days before the deadline, to decide if they will need a CR. If they are close to a deal, the stopgap bill could be for a matter of days to give them enough time to finalize the agreement. If they are not, it’s likely to be longer. “We haven’t reached a deal on Dec. 9, you know what happens. Got to do a CR. I would hope that if we get to that point and we’re about to close the deal, we can do it … day to day,” Shelby said.
Members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees and members of leadership have been holding behind-the-scenes talks as they try to reach a deal on a mammoth funding package. They agreed to top-line figures for the 12 individual fiscal 2021 funding bills, which would be included in an omnibus, late last month. Part of the bill appears to be near completion.
SBA Releases Detailed Information on More Small Business Borrowers
The Small Business Administration on Tuesday released detailed loan information for millions of borrowers under the Paycheck Protection Program, amid signs of fraud in the federal government’s signature coronavirus relief effort for small businesses.
The disclosure provides the names, addresses and precise loan amounts for each PPP borrower. The SBA had previously issued some detailed information for PPP loans above $150,000, although the bulk of the program’s loans were smaller than that.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the release of more information on PPP borrowers, in response to a lawsuit filed by news organizations under the Freedom of Information Act. Plaintiffs included Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
The SBA’s inspector general said in October that there were “strong indicators of widespread potential abuse and fraud in the PPP.” The watchdog counted tens of thousands of companies that received PPP loans for which they appear to have been ineligible, such as corporations created after the pandemic began.
The agency had fought the release of additional information on PPP loans, citing concerns over borrowers’ privacy. Those concerns were echoed by some small-business advocacy groups. The SBA had previously provided the names and addresses of borrowers whose PPP loans exceeded $150,000 along with their loan range across five categories, from $150,000 to the maximum of $10 million. The agency had also released specific amounts for loans under $150,000, but hadn’t provided the names of the borrowers.
CDC Update to Quarantine Period for Those Exposed to Virus
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday said its recommended quarantine time after someone is exposed to coronavirus can be shortened to seven days with a negative test result, and 10 days without a test.
CDC officials said that ideally people would still quarantine for the full 14 days, but that in an effort to boost compliance with quarantining and after “extensive modelling,” they determined there was a low risk of people continuing to spread the virus in the final days of a quarantine.
Quarantining after being exposed to an infected person is a key step in preventing the virus from spreading further. Exposure is defined as being within six feet of an infected person for 15 minutes over a 24-hour period.
But officials said they are acknowledging that many people are not following the recommendation for a full 14-day quarantine, given that many need to return to work or face other pressures. They hope a shorter period will encourage more people to comply.
Pfizer Vaccine OK’d in U.K.
The United Kingdom just approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech for distribution. The doses will be available in the U.K. starting next week. The U.K. has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine — enough to vaccinate 20 million people. The British health secretary told the BBC that an initial 800,000 doses would be available in the U.K. as soon as next week.
This puts pressure on U.S. regulators to quickly follow and authorize the vaccine in the United States considering the fact that the U.K. approved a vaccine developed by an American company, in partnership with a German one.
Does this mean the U.K. will receive more doses? The approval will have no effect on the distribution of the hundreds of millions of doses that other wealthy countries have procured in prepaid contracts.
Midwestern Governors Seek More Federal Covid-19 Aid for Businesses
A growing number of governors are calling for another round of coronavirus-relief legislation from Washington, saying they are unable to provide additional funds to small businesses amid budget shortfalls. The issue is gaining urgency as money from federal relief passed earlier this year runs out ahead of a year-end deadline to spend it.
States have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid into everything from personal-protective equipment and hazard pay for front-line health-care workers to schools and food banks. The crunch is tough in the Midwest, where some of the nation’s strongest coronavirus restrictions have been implemented amid increases in Covid-19 cases, hitting businesses just ahead of the holiday season.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that the state had used up all of its federal stimulus funding from the spring and now faces a $1 billion shortfall. Michigan has distributed nearly all of the $3.1 billion in coronavirus-relief funds it received. The state provided about $150 million to help small businesses, including $10 million given out as $10,000 grants to individual businesses. She recently banned indoor dining for three weeks and shut businesses like movie theaters and bowling alleys.
In Pennsylvania, lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf used the state’s remaining $1.3 billion in coronavirus-relief money this month to fund salaries for state health and public-safety employees so they could balance the state’s budget through the end of June, a move that angered some small-business groups.
The governors of Minnesota and Ohio also have called for more federal relief.
When is Too Early to Plan for the End of the Pandemic?
Remarkably promising COVID-19 vaccines pose a new challenge for companies that have spent the past eight months enduring the virus’ impact on commerce.
Soon, they’ll have to shift from survival mode to preparing for a likely surge in demand when vaccines become widely available sometime around the middle of next year. Just as the arrival of a global pandemic triggered an unprecedented economic free-fall, its end is likely to ignite a sudden and dramatic ascent.
Over the next several months, more and more people will get vaccinated, immunity will spread, fears of COVID will ebb, and government restrictions on economic activity will fall. That might seem like a long way off, as the viral siege that started in March intensifies again. Yet it doesn’t give companies a lot of time to prepare for an epic spending binge.
By midyear, people will have spent a year in forced economic isolation, many of them building up savings not because they wanted to, but because they haven’t been able to spend. As a result, they’re sitting on a lot of cash and plenty of deferred desires. When a vaccine opens the gates, those dollars will flood the marketplace.
“There’s a lot of pent-up demand that will be unleashed when we achieve some sense of normalcy,” says Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust in Chicago. I don’t buy predictions that the pandemic will permanently alter consumer behavior or usher in a new age of cautious, isolated living. Outside of a few sectors of the economy—Tannenbaum points to the retail and office segments of commercial real estate—people will resume old patterns as soon as it’s safe to do so.
Why? Because those old spending habits existed for a reason; they satisfied basic human needs and wants. COVID-19 hasn’t extinguished those needs and wants. We still like traveling, going to movies, eating at restaurants, attending sporting events, concerts, and plays. A powerful but temporary external force has artificially suppressed demand for these experiences. Demand will spring back when that force fades away.
The Covid Pandemic Could Cut Business Travel by 36%—Permanently
Even if Covid-19 vaccines become widespread, business travel is likely to be changed by the pandemic. Travel budgets have been slashed and some meetings will remain virtual; conferences and conventions may be crimped.
But by how much? It matters not only to airlines and their employees but also their customers—travelers. That’s because higher fares paid by corporate customers actually subsidize cheap fares for vacationers. What’s more, less business travel means that airlines schedule fewer flights on business routes, like trips to New York, Chicago, London, and Tokyo. That means fewer seats for leisure travelers.
Estimates of permanent change in the airline industry have ranged from the CEOs of American, United and Delta all saying business travel will come roaring back in full, though it may take a few years, to observers like Bill Gates who recently suggested half of all business travel will never return.
Guesses aside, a look at data suggests between 19% and 36% of all air trips are likely to be lost, based on a business-travel analysis from three airline-industry veterans.
“Brick-and-mortar retail has been devastated by ecommerce and I think this is a parallel story,’’ says Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorks, an airline-industry consulting firm and a member of the group. The others are Ben Baldanza, former chief executive of Spirit Airlines and a current board member of JetBlue, and consumer advocate Charlie Leocha, president of Travelers United, a passenger-advocacy organization.
They compiled data on business travel from disparate sources and broke down the market by travel purposes, such as sales, technical support or conventions and trade shows. That’s not how the market is usually measured. Most data on business travel looks at how much auto makers or universities or other industries spend on trips. Then they estimated the minimum and maximum percentage of trips that might be lost to technology in each category. Some purposes are more easily replaced by technology than others. Sales calls are more likely to fully return to in-person meetings because of the competitive nature of winning business. But internal company training sessions could become virtual rather than in-person. Multiplying the estimates of lost trips by the share of business travel in each of our seven categories gave an overall estimate of trips lost: 19% to 36%.
Business travel has a disproportionate effect on airlines: The top 10% to 15% of customers at global carriers typically account for about 40% of revenue. Overall, Bank of America estimates business trips contributed $334 billion to the entire travel industry’s $1.1 trillion in revenue last year.
After combing through data from various sources and surveys from around the world, they found some assumptions about business travel need refining. About 20% of all of it, for example, is for intra-company meetings and training—a category that could be replaced by online sessions. Commuting by air to work totaled about 5% of all business travel in the past. Post-pandemic, that could be reduced by working remotely. In both those categories, we estimated a minimum 40% of that travel would be replaced by technology and it could be as high as 60%.
At the other end of the scale, they estimated that the loss from sales trips would be somewhere between zero and only 20%. Conventions and trade shows likely will bounce back because they are seen as efficient ways to meet clients, recruit business and keep track of competitors. There will be bigger losses in categories like technical support, where trips can be replaced by virtual visits.
They vetted their findings with people in the industry, such as airline executives, U.S. and international trade associations and corporate travel agencies. Their feedback led to some refining of categories and supported our findings.
The worst-case scenario—losing more than one-third of all business travel—would reshape air travel dramatically. “That’s a huge number,’’ Mr. Baldanza says. “If 36% really happens, that’s a major, major issue for the U.S. airline industry and yet that’s a believable number for me.’’
Program Notices & Reminders
Village of Shorewood Announces CARES Small Business Relief Program – Deadline to apply is this Friday, December 4th!
The goal of the Shorewood CARES Small Business Relief Program (“Program”) is to provide financial support for the most impacted Shorewood small businesses in order to support their continued success as they navigate the coronavirus pandemic into 2021. Providing a monthly reimbursement for payroll and rent/mortgage (two of the most expensive operating costs) through this Program will ensure that business owners are not only able to keep the business open but also to focus on the future of their business. This Program coupled with the 2021 Business Fee Waivers are intended to encourage business owners to look to the future and set the stage for a successful new year.
Learn more about the program by clicking here – http://vil.shorewood.il.us/business/COVID-19/shorewood_cares.aspx
ComEd Bill Assistance
Small-business customers can visit ComEd.com/SmallBizAssistance or call 1-877-4-COMED-1 (1-877-426-6331) to learn more or apply for the Small Business Assistance Program.
ComEd’s bill-assistance programs also include flexible payment options for residents, financial assistance for past-due balances and usage alerts for current bills. Any customer who is experiencing a hardship or difficulty with their electric bill should call ComEd immediately at 1-800-334-7661 (1-800-EDISON-1), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to learn more and enroll in a program.
Business Interruption Grant
Funds still remain and the program is still open for application. Please visit:
https://www2.illinois.gov/dceo/SmallBizAssistance/Pages/C19DisadvantagedBusGrants.aspx
SBA EIDL
Low-interest Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are still available to Illinois small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small aquaculture businesses and private nonprofit organizations.
The SBA has opened a Virtual Business Recovery Center to apply online using the Electronic Loan Application via the SBA’s secure website at https://DisasterLoanAssistance.sba.gov/. Business owners and residents should contact the SBA Customer Service Representatives at
(800) 659-2955 for assistance in completing their applications. Requests for SBA disaster loan program information may be obtained by emailing FOCE-Help@sba.gov.
Tell Congress to Make PPP Loans Deductible – Call to Action
The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, or PPP, was passed in order to provide small businesses across the United States crucial relief during widespread government shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These loans can be forgivable when proceeds are used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest and utilities. Congressional leaders intended for PPP funded expenses to be deductible like other business expenses.
Despite the intent of Congressional leaders, additional legislation is needed to make PPP funds used to pay business expenses deductible. The failure to allow these deductions will have a devastating impact on small businesses struggling to keep their doors open and retain their employees.
Are you a small business owner who thought salary and expenses paid by PPP loans would be deductible? In partnership with the Small Business Advocacy Council (SBAC), we’re asking you to please contact your Congressional leaders and ask them to sponsor and strongly advocate for legislation that makes salary and other businesses expenses paid for by a PPP loan deductible!
You can contact your Senators and House Representative here: https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=10057
See below for two articles for further information / aid on PPP forgiveness and deductibility
7 Resources for PPP Loan Forgiveness Help
https://www.uschamber.com/co/run/business-financing/ppp-loan-forgiveness-resources?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=SFMC&utm_campaign=MO_Newsletter&utm_content=2020_11_25
Will You Owe Taxes on Your Paycheck Protection Loan?
https://www.uschamber.com/co/run/finance/tax-implications-of-paycheck-protection-loans
SBDC at JJC Update
Here is a list of upcoming programs delivered from the Small Business Development Center through Joliet Junior College:
E-Commerce Webinar – Third Party Platforms to Sell Your Product
Date: 12/3/20
Time: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (CST)
E-commerce – Third Party Platforms to Sell Your Product Louis Kreppert has sold over $500,000 of product using platforms like Amazon, Facebook, eBay, and Google Merchant. Learn how to sell your products where the eyeballs are – without paying for advertising. https://ilsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/33413
Funding Your Business
Date: 12/8/20
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (CST)
Funding your business is critical for start-ups as well as companies who are looking to expand. Establishing business credit is the first step. Get a basic understanding of what banks look for to qualify for a loan from Nancy Kuzma of Old Plank Trail Community Bank/Wintrust Community Bank. https://ilsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/33653
Video Marketing for Small Business
Date: 12/10/20
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (CST)
Video production once meant bringing in a full production crew to produce a television commercial. Now, a child can produce a quality video on their phone. And that video is a very important component to your website, social media pages, product information, as well as your local advertising. Learn the benefits of video marketing and hear from Mike Puglitsch at Acclaim Media about how easy the process can be. https://ilsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/33572
Website Development
Date: 12/15/20
Time: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (CST)
A website is more than just a placeholder to occupy property in cyberspace. Your website should be the central point that your social media, SEO, email marketing, pay per click ads, content, CRM…. orbit around to generate business for your business. Join Jason McCoy from WSI to discuss how to develop a website that meets your needs. https://ilsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/33652
21 Topics in 21 Minutes for 2021 Growth
Date: Scheduled one-on-one session
In less than 30 minutes, the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Joliet Junior College will help you prioritize key 2021 business plans whether it is for your people, your product, your marketing, your sales, your money or the impact of this crisis. In this short, one-on-one exercise, we will help you determine up to three of the biggest opportunities for growth in the year ahead. We will offer no-cost tools to develop your strategy for success in those areas. Email us at SBDC@JJC.edu and we will send you a link for registration.
Business Services Webinar from the Workforce Center of Will County
Join this Webinar to learn how the Workforce Center can assist your business with resources you need to find, hire, and retain hard-working employees.
Wednesday, December 9, 2020 from 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
To register for the webinar please click on the link below:
https://bit.ly/36e7yY8
Finally, we will host our next Virtual Conference on Thursday, December 10th.
Town Hall Meeting – A follow up on the last 6 months
Please join the Joliet Chamber for an interactive virtual conference with community leaders from various business sectors including education, healthcare, and governmental affairs, for a follow-up conversation to the last Town Hall Meeting.
Panel of Speakers will include Dr. Arvid Johnson from the University of St. Francis, Ruth Colby from Silver Cross Hospital, Sue Olenek from the Will County Health Department, Barry Kolanowski from Senior Services Center, and Mike Paone from the Joliet Chamber. Here is the link to register: http://jolietchamber.chambermaster.com/events/details/2020-webinar-december-10-town-hall-meeting-5978
Stay well,
Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry Staff and Board of Directors
Mike Paone
Vice President – Government Affairs
Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce & Industry
mpaone@jolietchamber.com
815.727.5371 main
815.727.5373 direct