In this March 3, 2020 file photo Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference in Washington. Powell is pledging to reveal the names and other details of the entities that borrow from the emergency programs the central bank has set up to offset the economic hit from the viral outbreak. In prepared testimony for a Tuesday, May 19, 2020 congressional hearing, Powell says the central bank will disclose the amounts borrowed and the interest rates it levies under its programs to provide credit for large corporations, state and local governments, and medium-sized businesses. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)
By Christopher Rugaber and Martin Crutsinger
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the Fed's lending programs for medium-sized businesses and state and local governments would begin operating by the end of this month.
Powell said that while the Fed has received a “good deal of interest” in those programs if not enough companies or state and local governments seek to borrow the Fed would consider changes to them. That could include expanding their eligibility.
The chairman's comments came before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which held an oversight hearing on the $2 trillion federal relief package approved in late March.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who also testified, came under sharp questioning from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who charged that he wasn't doing enough to force companies that receive aid from the joint Fed-Treasury program to keep workers on their payrolls.
“Will you require companies that receive money from this half-a-trillion-dollar slush fund to keep people on the payroll?” Warren asked the Treasury secretary.
The senator pressed Mnuchin to ensure that the loans include that requirement. When Mnuchin declined to commit to that change, Warren said, “You're boosting your Wall Street buddies.”
Mnuchin told Warren that the legislation that provides the government aid includes restrictions on top executive pay and on company dividends and stock buybacks.
The Fed's Main Street Lending program, announced in March, will extend up to $600 billion in loans to companies with up to 15,000 employees. The Treasury has provided $75 billion to offset any losses from the loans, drawn from $454 billion that Congress provided Treasury to support Fed loans in the relief package.
Mnuchin said his department would accept losses from any Fed loans that would come out of that $454 billion. Mnuchin had previously said that the administration expected to recover all those funds. That observation had raised concerns that the Fed would adopt a cautious approach that would provide less financial support.
Under sharp questioning, Mnuchin also defended the administration's support for reopening the economy in many states, which he said would be done safely.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, charged that the Trump administration was risking the lives of poorer workers in its efforts to boost the economy and financial markets.
Brown asserted that the Trump administration hasn’t done enough to protect lower-paid front-line workers — by, for example, ramping up viral testing — even as most states start allowing restaurants, stores, and gyms to reopen.
“The administration wants to put more workers at risk to boost the stock market,” Brown said.
“Your characterization is unfair,” Mnuchin responded.
The Treasury secretary also noted that prolonged shutdowns of the economy would risk widespread business bankruptcies and long-term unemployment.
“There is risk of permanent damage,” Mnuchin said. “We are conscious of the health issues, and we will do this in a safe way.”
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
