Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar told Cheddar on Tuesday that Americans need cash from canceled flights to provide immediate relief, but airline executives have not responded to the call.
In a letter to 11 major airlines, nine Democratic senators, including Klobuchar, wrote "we believe your company has a moral responsibility to provide real refunds, not travel vouchers, to consumers, and to support State Department efforts to repatriate any American citizens trying to come home."
"We're waiting to hear back from them," Sen. Klobuchar said. "Obviously many of them have canceled fees and other things. Or they have proposed to give customers the ability to use it to buy another ticket in the future."
But with Congressional help, those senators think money should go back into the pockets of customers.
Klobuchar said "we think it is much more important to get the cash to the customer knowing that they're going to fly again when this is over" than to provide credits for travelers.
Last week, Congress passed a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that includes $25 billion in cash grants and $25 billion in loans to the airlines.
Her Democratic colleague Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on Twitter "the airline industry got $25 billion to keep workers on payroll — but they're not the only ones hurting for money right now."
American Airlines said in a response that the "comprehensive travel waivers we've put in place are designed to meet the full range of our customers' needs."
Karl Brauer, executive analyst with Iseecars.com, joined Cheddar News to discuss what to consider if you're in the market for a new or used vehicle.
New applications along with refinancing for mortgages dropped from a year ago as rates continued to climb.
Nvidia posted strong quarterly results, citing strong demand and plans to significantly increase supply.
Minutes from a recent Federal Reserve meeting showed that members "expressed uncertainty about how much more policy tightening may be appropriate."
Microsoft said it detected malicious hacking activity against critical U.S. infrastructure by a Chinese state-sponsored group.
Cheddar News checks in to see what to look out for on The Day Ahead as earnings continue with reports from Gap, Best Buy, Costco Wholesale and Ulta Beauty while key economic data is also due to be released. It's also National Wine Day on Thursday.
Over 1,400 props from classic movies like Star Wars, Shawshank Redemption and Gladiator will be up for auction next month in what experts say will be one of the largest memorabilia auctions in the world.
The Consumer Federation of America released its annual list of top complaints filed with consumer agencies across the country.
Google is using new artificial intelligence models to generate descriptions for YoutTube shorts.
The European Union and Google are looking to develop a voluntary artificial intelligence pact with European and non-European companies ahead of rules to govern the technology.
