THIS WEEK IN WASHINGTON
April 17, 2020
Greetings to our friends from the Peach State to the Potomac…

On behalf of the Total Spectrum team, we would like to welcome you to the inaugural Georgia edition of This Week In Washington, a publication of Total Spectrum/Steve Gordon & Associates. This periodic newsletter will contain insights and insider information that is relevant to anyone who lives, works, or plays in Georgia, or who has an interest in the national political scene and how It impacts your lives and businesses. In each edition, you can expect to hear from a team of experts with deep connections on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and under the Gold Dome.

Total Spectrum’s team of lobbyists, trade association executives, and consultants covers every industry with a Georgian footprint. Our goal is to provide you with a concise and useful source of relevant information to keep you ahead of the news cycle. Our columnists keep close tabs on appropriations, healthcare, defense, aerospace, agriculture, transportation, logistics, information technology, telecommunications, taxation, and regulations both at the state and federal levels.

Additionally, there will be two regular columns.  Heard on the Hill will be written by fellow Georgian and Chairman of Total Spectrum’s Georgia Group, Todd Smith, along with Total Spectrum’s Managing Partner, Steve Gordon. The Gold Dome Report will be written by Jesse Weathington, Director of Total Spectrum’s Georgia Group. Each column will keep you abreast of key political developments both in Washington and in Atlanta.

We hope you enjoy receiving This Week in Washington and consider it a resource rather than another newsletter to clutter your inb ox. We’d like to hear from you about what issues are re levant to you, and how we can improve. Thank you for your interest, and please forward TWIW to anyone on your contact list you think would enjoy reading it.
 
Warmest regards,

Todd Smith
Chairman, Georgia Group
Jesse Weathington
Director, Georgia Group
Heard on the Hill

We are wrapping up about a month of working from home in Washington, D.C. Congress was scheduled to return next Monday, but their return has slipped to May 4. Washington’s rush hour traffic, often compared to that of Los Angeles, is non-existent.
 
It has been more than a month since it first became clear how dangerous COVID-19 was, and how much life was going to change. Steve participated in a meeting on March 11 with Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is a medical doctor who specializes in gastroenterology. The Senator stated that “there was no way to attack the COVID-19 virus without forced separation in our society, which will require us to bring down the economy.” That is exactly what has happened.
 
Washington, D.C.’s stay at home order has been extended to May 15. Virginia’s current stay at home order stands until June 10, while Maryland’s order is ongoing and Governor Hogan says he will lift it when the crisis recedes.
 
We’ve added a slide to the right margin of this newsletter to provide a snapshot of where we are, by the numbers, as it relates to COVID-19. In the late 1970’s, economists developed a misery index to describe the pain caused from stagnation and runaway inflation. We don’t need an index today; these figures clearly tell the story.
Continued... below the Gold Dome Report.
INFOGRAPHS
Click image to download
Analysis: What you need to know about Covid-19 Workforce
State Policies for Recreational and Medical Marijuana Sales During Covid-19
$400 million of emergency HAVA funds allocated for Covid-19 aid
Who’s getting a CARES Act stimulus check?
What You Need to Know About Paid Leave
Covid-19: By the Numbers
Gold Dome Report

This inaugural edition of the  Gold Dome Report  comes at what must be the most unusual time in living memory. The General Assembly is suspended indefinitely, Governor Brian Kemp has declared a Public Health Emergency, and what would normally be a quiet week after The Masters instead finds the state under a shelter-in-place order with schools, businesses and beaches shuttered. Campaigns are largely suspended or taking place online and through the media, and the primary election has been moved back into June. The Ethics Commission has ruled that the suspension of the legislative session is not grounds to allow for incumbents to accept campaign contributions. The anti-mask statute has been suspended… the list goes on.
 
It would consume less space to list what remains normal… there will still be primary elections, and a general election in November. Americans will render a verdict on President Donald Trump’s first term in office, but based on considerations that no one thought of even four months ago. Remember when impeachment was the hot political topic? Now a once-in-a-century pandemic and looming economic depression will determine the fate of our elected leaders up and down the ballot. It is far too early to even venture a guess as to how the COVID-19 pandemic will play out, with peak demand for hospital beds in Georgia projected to fall on May 1.
 
Life will go on, even if much amended. The General Assembly still has unfinished work in the form of the FY2021 budget, which must be adopted prior to the start of July. Even the most pessimistic set of revenue assumptions going into the pandemic were not dire enough, so it is a near certainty that additional belt tightening will need to be included in the spending plan. Pandemics coupled with recessions will also automatically lead to increased healthcare and social services spending while cutting revenues. 
 
The rumor mill has it that the legislature will reconvene to adopt the 2021 budget in early June, likely after the postponed primary election. It is unclear what if any other bills will be taken up in an abbreviated run-up to Sine Die. The best information we can gather is that “must-pass” legislation may get a chance to move, although what is considered “must-pass” is in the eye of the beholder. When the General Assembly returns, they will also need to figure out a way to prevent the further spread of coronavirus among members and staff as occurred during the special session when the emergency declaration was initially ratified. Finally, although the Governor has extended the public health emergency through May 13, the possibility that it can be extended further will depend on the virus and the success of social distancing.
Heard on the Hill continued

Washington’s Response – so far
Stimulus 1 was passed in late February and provided funds for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the State Department, and the Small Business Administration. The total cost was $8.3 billion.
 
Stimulus 2 was passed in early March. It provided funds for free testing, paid sick and family leave, Medicaid, food security programs, and increased unemployment insurance programs.
 
Stimulus 3, formally The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability Act (CARES). It provided at least $2 trillion which included additional funds for unemployment benefits, paid for additional personal protection equipment, and made money available to the Secretary of the Treasury to loan to American industries. It funded direct payments to individual Americans, hospitals, airlines, businesses so that they could retain their employees, state and local governments, the Pentagon, the Federal Reserve for emergency loans, and small businesses.
 
It’s fair to say that there have been a few delays in implementing this legislation. That’s really to be expected for a bill of this magnitude that required agencies like the Small Business Administration to process loan applications of unprecedented volume. However, the money is now getting out to those in need.
 
About 60% of individuals who are eligible for direct payments have received them electronically, and the balance will receive a check.
 
Congress appropriated help for small businesses with a $350 billion funding authorization for the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program. The Small Business Administration reached and exhausted that funding capacity on Thursday morning, April 16 th, having approved 1.6 million applications.
 
Response to Come
We have been on a series of calls all week with Republican Senators, Republican Congressmen, and members of the Administration. Each person talked about where they think we are in our battle with COVID-19, how individuals and businesses who have been hurt during the economic shutdown have been helped, the shape of additional stimulus funding, and their view on how to restart the economy.
 
We heard some minor differences in their perspectives and desires, but the differences were quite minor. Here’s a summary of what we heard.
 
Stimulus 3.5. The Paycheck Protection Program can and will get an additional authorization of funds. The Administration, Senator McConnell, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy propose an additional $250 billion. Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Schumer are okay with an additional $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, but they would also like an additional $100 billion for hospitals and $100 billion for state and local government. The Republican response is that the first funds for hospitals and state and local government authorized by CARES Act are just going out, so it would be better to wait so we can pinpoint need.
 
There’s a great probability that the differences will be hammered out next week by the party leaders, and then passed by the Senate and House in pro-forma session by unanimous consent. One thing is for sure – it will be passed soon.
 
Stimulus 4 is next.
 
There will certainly be more funds for the Paycheck Protection Program. A banking association executive told us this week that another $250 billion for paycheck protection will be gone as quickly as was the first $350 billion.
 
There is a good chance that a big portion of Stimulus 4 bill will be for infrastructure. President Trump has long wanted a big infrastructure bill. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and House do too. The problem has always been finding the funds for it.
 
Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has signaled his desire to include infrastructure in the next stimulus bill. Senator John Thune (R-SD), the Republican Whip, would like the infrastructure section to include roads, bridges, as well as additional funds for broadband connectivity (“anything that will get us to 5G faster”). Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) would like the infrastructure section to include roads and bridges, broadband, and water projects; Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La), wants “big projects that would be spread out over a number of years that would pull service and other sectors.” Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, wants to take the $287 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill that passed out of his committee last year and put it into Stimulus 4. Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is on board too.
 
There will also be a series of nuts and bolts adjustments to the programs in this bill. For example, Senator Gardner would like to see better treatment under the Paycheck Protection Program for LLCs and franchisees.
 
The President’s Plan to Reopen America
Last night, President Trump released his Guidelines for Opening Up America . These guidelines will certainly be discussed and debated in the next days and weeks to come.

To conclude this inaugural edition of Heard on the Hill we will leave you with this quote from Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-LA):
“We must focus on balancing the needs of the medical crisis with the needs of the financial crisis. Mass testing for the virus is the key. Jobs for Americans is the cure.”

This e-newsletter is produced by Total Spectrum/SGA and Total Spectrum Georgia. The views expressed herein may include subjective commentary and analysis that are the views of the editors and authors alone. Information in this e-newsletter is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but that cannot be guaranteed as independently investigated or verified. Information in this e-newsletter is not an endorsement, advertisement, recommendation, or any type of advice, political, legal, financial, or otherwise. With questions about the content of this e-newsletter, please contact Total Spectrum Georgia.