According to people familiar with the matter, the White House has reached out to managers in several industries to support the Biden administration’s $ 1.9 billion Covid-19 emergency relief plan.
Over the past week, administration officials have held at least two calls with leaders from various sectors, including Wall Street and technology, said these people, who do not want to be nominated to speak freely.
One of the people participated in Brian Brian deese, President Joe Biden’s greatest economic adviser. Another person anchored most of the calls through the Office of Public Engagement, which is run by former Representative Cedric Richmond.
According to an unnamed White House official, the administration has worked with companies and groups, including:
- American Airlines
- The US Chamber of Commerce
- The business table round
- Ernst & Young
- The National Association of Manufacturers
- General Motors
- The Black Economic Alliance
This development comes a day after Biden and Finance Minister Janet Yellen met with several key executives in the Oval Office to discuss the emergency relief plan. The government and Congressional Democrats plan to pass the measure by mid-March.
With these calls, Biden officials want to form a coalition to support the president’s emergency relief plan, say the people familiar with the matter. The people said that most participants expressed their support for many of Biden’s proposal.
“They make sure everyone supports it,” said one person familiar with the outreach. “Nothing is too big,” this person added, explaining the business leaders’ consensus view.
The administration is also consulting with business leaders, along with lawmakers and other stakeholders, to find ways to possibly improve the legislation, the White House official said.
The discussions focused on various aspects of the plan, including the total price, the payment of $ 1,400 to Americans and the prospect of raising the federal minimum wage, the official added. The administration also asked for feedback from management members on how they handled the pandemic.
Some leaders the White House has worked with have opposed certain aspects of Biden’s plan.
The departing CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, who met with Biden on Tuesday, warned to increase the minimum wage to $ 15. Raising the minimum wage is part of Biden’s Covid assistance plan. The chamber said it supported Biden’s overall proposal to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
Sixty-three percent of small business owners support the $ 1.9 billion Covid relief package, according to the latest quarterly CNBC | SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey.
Biden himself began meeting with top executives about the proposal and future policy plans.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Yellen met with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon on Tuesday, Walmart’s Doug McMillon, Gap’s Sonia Syngal and Donohue.
The discussion begins with a 15-minute speech by Biden, emphasizing the need to combat the virus while helping the economy. Lowe CEO Marvin Ellison, who was also present at the meeting, spoke about the importance of jobs, while Dimon spoke about the need for policies that bring about healthy economic growth.
Meanwhile, it appears the Democrats in Congress are on track to succeed the plan without the help of Republicans, who have demanded a much smaller package.
Democrats in the House as well as in the Senate recently passed a budget resolution that could help alleviate the relief without Republican support. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, said after the budget resolution was passed, the Democrats in her chamber would consider accepting their party’s emergency relief proposal within two weeks.
The resolution instructed committees to draft a number of measures for coronavirus assistance in Biden’s proposal, such as $ 1,400 direct payments, a $ 400-week federal unemployment increase through September, $ 350 billion in state, local and tribal relief. , funds for Covid-19 vaccines and testing and rental and mortgage assistance.
There were still some Democrats who expressed concern about the $ 1,400 check target. Joe Manchin, DW.Va, for example, said he was concerned that the stimulus tests were going to be too many high-income people who did not necessarily need the help.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Said there should be no income tax for anyone who can receive checks from the federal government.
Biden said he was willing to negotiate eligibility for payments, which under the current proposal would fully apply to individuals earning up to $ 75,000 and couples earning up to $ 150,000.