The Coronavirus Relief packages passed by congress. Good morning. I call this hearing to order. Without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. I want to thank everyone especially our witnesses for joining us today for our committees hybrid hearing. I want to make sure to note some important requirements. Let me begin by saying that standing house and Committee Rules and practice will continue to apply during hybrid proceedings. House regulations require members to be visible through a video connection throughout the proceeding. So, please, keep your cameras on. And remember to remain muted until you are recognized to minimize background noise. In accordance with the rules established under hr965, staff have been advised to mute participants only in the event there is inadvertent background noise. For those members here in the room, i urge members and staff to wear masks while in the hearing room and i thank you in advance for your commitment to a safe enviro
I want to make sure to note some important requirements. Let me begin by saying that standing house and Committee Rules and practice will continue to apply during hybrid proceedings. House regulations require members to be visible through a video connection throughout the proceedings. So please keep your cameras on. Remember to remain muted until you are recognized to minimize background noise. In accordance with the rules established under hr 965, staff has been advised to mute participants only in the event there is inadvertent background noise. For those members here in the room, i urge members and staff to wear masks while in the hearing room. I thank you in advance for your commitment to a safe environment for all here today. Secretary mnuchin, administrator carranza, thank you for being here today. Let me start by saying, i want to give a sincere thank you of to all of the staff of both of your agencies who have worked tirelessly over the last few months responding to the crisis.
Outbreak of covid19 has led to an unprecedented Public Health crisis and a dire economic crisis. We have lost over 110,000 people to the disease, and 40 million remain unemployed. Back in february as the band that it was worse, we knew we needed to take action to help our Small Businesses survive the economic downturn. We started working with the sba and governors around the country to leverage the sba disaster resources available. Can you please mute . Anyone should be muted. Everyone should be muted. As the virus continues to spread, or state and local governments began imposing stayathome orders and business closures. We quickly realized Congress Needed to do more to meet the full scope of the problem, and that is when we started working on what ultimately became the cares act. To help Small Businesses and eligible nonprofits, congress created a new Paycheck Protection Program, expanded eligibility to the program and provided payment and interest relief for current sba borrowers. I
President bushs council of economic advisers. Dr. Yellen served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve until 2010 to 2014 before being appointed chair. In 2014 by president barack obama. Dr. Yellen also previously asved in the white house chair of the council of economic advisers. Time eitherfirst dr. Bernanke or dr. Yellen have testified before Congress Since stepping down from the Federal Reserve. These extraordinary times require congress to seek out of experts with extraordinary experience. As Congress Works to end the economic crisis and enable a strong recovery, we are fortunate to benefit from their individual insights and gain from their unique position as Federal Reserve chairs in the last economic crisis and recovery. I want to thank both of them for agreeing to testify today. Crisis, thento this coronavirus pandemic continues to spiral out of control. Today, over 3 million americans have tested positive for the virus, including a recordbreaking 75,600 confirmed yesterday. Than
In service to others in our country. All of us have a role to play in our nations response to the pandemic. At the Federal Reserve we remain committed to using our tools to do what we can for as long as it takes to provide some relief and stability and ensure that recovery will be a strong as possible and to limit lasting damage to the economy. In recent months Economic Activity picked up as the economy began to reopen. Many businesses open their doors and factories restarted production more people of their home to engage in various activities. As a result Household Spending looks to have recovered half of the earlier decline although air travel and hotel has shown much less of a pickup. The recovery and Household Spending owes to federal stimulus payments and expanded Unemployment Benefits that provided substantial and timely support to household income. In contrast the indicators of fixed investment have yet to show the recovery. Even with the improved economic news, overall activity