Coronavirus US Response: Deal On Further Small Business Aid, Treasury Secretary Says

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that the White House is coming close to a deal with congressional Democrats on further aid for small businesses.

"I think we're very close to a deal today. I'm hopeful that we can get that done," Mnuchin told CNN’s Jake Tapper on the “State of the Union” program.

"I'm hopeful that we can reach an agreement that the Senate can pass this tomorrow, and that the House can take it up on Tuesday. Wednesday, we would be back up and running," Mnuchin continued.

Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating further financial support for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Republicans originally wanted $250 billion for the program, but Democrats would like to also include $100 billion for hospitals, along with $150 billion for state and local governments dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.

PPP received $350 billion in funding from the CARES Act stimulus package that passed in March. The program ran out of money on Thursday, due to high demand. The Treasury Secretary said the proposed deal would allocate $300 billion to the PPP, along with $50 billion for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, $75 billion for hospitals and $25 billion to spend on testing.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also said a deal will be soon, and claimed “people will be very pleased” with the agreement.

"The money has not all been distributed, although it has all been committed. And that's, that means there's no more money. They will have more money as soon as we come to agreement which will be soon," Pelosi told Fox News host Chris Wallace, in an interview that aired Sunday. "And I think people will be very pleased, because these small businesses must thrive in a community where their, again, health is essential to them opening up and they have to open up in order to thrive."

President Trump has attacked Pelosi for not yet agreeing to a deal on more PPP funding.

“Look, Nancy Pelosi, she’s away on vacation or something and she should come back,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “She should come back and get this done. I don’t know why she’s not coming back. The fact is, she’s not doing her job and there’s nothing unusual about that for her.”

Small businesses around the country have been shut down, as many states issue shelter-in-place orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. ]Trump has declared the ongoing coronavirus outbreak a national emergency, holding daily press briefings on the subject with public health officials.