Business leaders welcomed the news that Congress approved President Joe Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, with American Airlines canceling licenses, although a lobby group of major US employers emphasized the need for bipartisan action in the future.
American Airlines Chief Executive Doug Parker said the 13,000 employees who received Notification of Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) notifications could “destroy” them. In an Instagram video, he said that once the bill was passed, there would be no time off from the operator in April “and with the increase in vaccines, I hope it will never again.”
Parker said additional funding for the airlines’ payroll support program would provide employment protection for American workers until September 30 and asked employees to thank Congressional representatives if they saw them on a flight.
The Business Roundtable, Washington’s leading large corporate lobbying group, said that while it called for a more targeted approach, aid “will help provide urgent resources” to strengthen the public health response and support individuals and small businesses most affected by pandemic.
However, the legislation did not receive bipartisan support, and the lobby group called for a more bipartisan approach to future policies – such as the infrastructure project that Biden will address next – for a “stronger and more durable economic recovery”.
New York, which was hit hard in the early days of the pandemic, is expected to receive $ 100 billion from this deal. That would allow it to maintain essential services, said Partnership for New York City, a business group that represents some of the city’s biggest employers.
“The business community is committed to ensuring that these federal funds leverage the additional private investment that will be needed to restore more than 850,000 jobs and thousands of small businesses that the city and state lost to the pandemic,” said executive Kathryn Wylde.
The small business advocacy group Main Street Alliance said the plan would provide relief for small businesses as well as their customers. “We must now begin work to move beyond screening to rebuilding a more resilient and sustainable economy,” said Didier Trinh, director of government affairs for the Main Street Alliance.