The Senate unanimously approved a $2 trillion emergency stimulus package late Wednesday night, aiming to offer relief to Americans amid the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. T he sweeping legislation would send direct $1,200 checks to more than 150 million American households, offer $500 billion in bailouts for businesses (including airline companies) impacted by the crisis, issue $350 billion in loans to small businesses, expand unemployment benefits by $250 billion, provide $150 billion in direct aid to states and localities, and inject $130 billion into the nation's hospitals, among many other things. It is the largest economic rescue package in U.S. history. The House will take up the measure on Friday, according to House Majority Leader Hoyer. To protect members from the risks of exposure, the House will hold a voice vote on the bill. READ MORE HERE and HERE

Even a $2 trillion bill can't give everyone what they want. The National Association of Clean Water Agencies , which represents water utilities, is among the sectors that sought aid from Congress but came up short. They need to keep water flowing to customers who have stopped paying their bills. And many of the utilities' customers - bars, restaurants, airports - are using much less water or shut down entirely.

Water utilities are far from the only special interest to be disappointed by the bill. "For the third time, Congress has failed to provide the necessary funds to support 'free testing' for all Americans," Julie Khani, the president of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, which represents some of the private companies processing the coronavirus tests, said in a statement. "Our members remain in an untenable situation, absorbing growing, uncompensated costs for testing specimens with no assurance that they will be appropriately or fairly reimbursed for all the tests they are performing."

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The massive coronavirus relief bill passed by the Senate last night still needs to clear the House and be signed into the law by President Donald Trump - but K Street is already looking ahead to the next relief bill. It's widely believed on K Street that Congress will need to pass another relief measure at some point in the coming months. What might it include? Republicans might call for regulatory reform, more corporate tax relief and an "infrastructure plan that pulls government and the private sector together to improv transportation and other core infrastructure needs," according to a memo that Forbes Tate Partners, a lobbying and public affairs firm, sent to clients this afternoon. Democrats, meanwhile, might want an "infrastructure plan that prioritizes direct government spending" on roads, public transit, high-speed rail, schools, hospitals and broadband, among other priorities. They could also push clean energy investment and efforts to "fundamentally reset the rules on wages, leave and sick benefits, executive compensation, and stock buybacks," according to the memo. READ MORE

Mnuchin Forms Task Force On Nonbank Mortgage Servicing

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin today said he has created a task force within the Financial Stability Oversight Council to monitor nonbank mortgage servicers, which will be slammed by a wave of missed payments. The panel of financial regulators is "particularly focused on the liquidity issues that market may have," Mnuchin said on a broadcast teleconference with the council.State regulators this week called on the Federal Reserve to establish a lending facility for servicers, warning that servicers without adequate capital could be wiped out. Mnuchin also said FSOC members had agreed it was best to keep markets open amid anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic. READ MORE

A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus pandemic shut down much of the country. The Labor Department's report for the week ended March 21 was one of the first official indicators of how many people have suddenly been forced out of work nationally.  The staggering jobless claims figure was well above the levels seen during the darkest days of the Great Recession, and the worst isn't over yet, economic forecasters say. The 3.3 million new unemployment insurance claims that the Labor Department reported is likely a significant undercount, experts say, because laid-off workers have been calling into state unemployment agencies much faster than the agencies can process their requests. READ MORE

The coronavirus has already led to massive layoffs. Unemployment claims for the week of March 16 shot up to a record 3.3 million. For context, the highest this number ever got during the Great Recession is 661,000. The coronavirus peak is about five times that number. This raises an obvious question: Are enough of these people going to get unemployment insurance? And if they do, will they get enough money? On March 18, Congress passed a bill offering $1 billion to states to help them sort through the historic surge in unemployment. But they realized this was nowhere near enough. Now, the Senate has passed its third legislative package responding to the coronavirus crisis, authorizing another massive increase in unemployment insurance benefits. The centerpiece of the new plan is a $600-per-week across-the-board increase in unemployment benefits for all workers claiming them. Given that as of January the average UI check was $385 per week, this is a massive increase. READ MORE

The Trump administration is developing a plan to label counties across the country as "high-risk, medium-risk, or low-risk" areas for the spread of the coronavirus, President Trump said in a letter to the nation's governors on Thursday. Against the warnings of health experts, Trump is pushing for parts of the country to lift social distancing restrictions over the next few weeks and months, believing that the economic toll of an extended quarantine will be more damaging than the virus itself. But economists say his proposal to get business around the country back open by Easter Sunday, April 12, will do more harm to the economy if the coronavirus outbreak has not been contained. READ MORE

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened applications for school security grants worth more than $83 million, announced U.S. Attorney for Colorado Jason R. Dunn. There are three grant programs with money available through the department's Office of Justice Programs. The largest amount, $76.4 million, comes through the STOP Act School Violence Program. The grant awards money for research into the causes of school violence and the effectiveness of schools' safety measures. Applications must outline a "minimally intrusive" strategy for collecting data. Of particular interest to the department are evaluations of strategies to collect tips and respond to threats, school safety technologies and state school safety centers that 20 states, including Colorado, have. The deadline to apply is April 13. READ MORE