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The Senate today is set to vote on another "skinny" version of its proposed Phase 4 relief package that would provide targeted funding for expanded unemployment benefits, schools, vaccine production and distribution, and testing and tracing. Yesterday, the chamber voted on a separate bill addressing funding and improvements for the paycheck protection program (PPP), but the vote failed.

Ahead of today's vote, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler wrote Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to urge them to include additional provisions in the skinny package to allow credit unions to better serve their 122 million members and small businesses.

Thaler specifically called for including these provisions in any final legislation:

• providing relief from credit unions' member business lending (MBL) cap so they can provide more credit to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic;
• providing emergency funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF) to better serve underserved and lower-income communities;
• modernizing the E-SIGN Act; and
• extending several provisions included in the CARES Act related to the NCUA's Central Liquidity Facility, troubled debt restructurings, deposit insurance, the current expected credit loss (CECL) standard, and capital flexibility.

In addition, Thaler reiterated the association's support for simplifying the PPP loan forgiveness process for loans under $150,000 and addressing the issue of economic injury disaster loan (EIDL) advances being deducted from a borrower's forgivable PPP amount, which he raised ahead of Tuesday's vote on the PPP bill.

While the Senate's skinny bill may not obtain the 60 votes needed to advance to the House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who's been leading the administration's relief negotiations, have continued to discuss a possible deal.

Pelosi had indicated a deal must be reached by yesterday afternoon to consider it before the election. According to news reports Tuesday, Pelosi said she and Mnuchin were "on a path" and that a deal might not be finished by Nov. 3. Two key issues, among others, that were still being hashed out were Democratic-sought funding for state and local governments and an administration-sought provision to provide liability protections.

Stay tuned to NAFCU Today for the latest developments.