This hearing will come to order. Todays hearing is a hybrid format. And the hearing room has been configured to maintain the recommendedf foot social distancing between senators and other individuals in the room necessary to operate the hearing which we have kept to a minimum. For those joining remotely a few videoconferencing reminders. Once you start speaking there will be a slight delay before you are displayed on the screen. To minimize background noise please click the mute button until it is your speak or ask questions. If there is a Technology Issue we will move to the next senator until its resolved. I, again, remind all senators and witnesses that the 5minute clock still applies, and those of you remote should all have a box on your screen labeled clock that will show how much time is remaining. Well try to give you a gavel reminder when your time is almost expired. To simplify the speaking order process senator brown and i again have agreed to go by sen you arty for this hearing. With that we welcome witnesses to this hearing, the honorable steven t. Mnuchin, and the honorable jerome h. Powell. Welcome to both of you. Todays witnesses will provide testimony as required under title 4 of the cares act. Congress has appointed nearly 3 trillion, appropriated nearly 3 trillion to protect, strengthen and support americans to fight the pandemic and also to stabilize the infrastructure of our economic system. Title 4 of the cares act provided a 454 billion infusion into the Exchange Stabilization fund to support the Federal Reserves emergency Lending Programs and facilities that facilitate liquidity in the marketplace and support eligible businesses, states, municipalities and tribes. So far approximately 195 billion of funds under the title 4 cares act have been leveraged to provide trillions of dollars in liquidity back into the markets, supporting credit flow and helping to stabilize the economy through the primary market and secondary the term asset backed, the main Street Lending program and the Municipal Liquidity facility. That leaves around 250 billion in funding under title 4 of the cares act. Theres been significant interes in exploring ways the Lending Program can be expanded to access and utilization. Earlier this month the Banking Committee held a hearing on the status where witnesses made the case and provided recommendations for the change of the lend Street Lending program to broaden its access and use to address commercial and real estate markets. In that hearing the president on the committee of Capital Market regulations shared his view that small and medium sized businesses will need Financial Support for several years to recover from the impact of the covid19 pandemic. He continued, while our economy is improving given the depth to which it failed there is still a long way to go. Small Business Revenues continue to be well below prepandemic levels and the recovery has stalled since july. A key part of this Financial Support should come from the main Street Program authorized by the cares act. In the same hearing, the president and ceo of the real estate round table painted a bleak picture of the condition of the commercial real estate market. He said it is impacting their ability to meet their Debt Service Obligations which increases pressure on financial institutions, Pension Fund Investors and others. And he said it is pushing Property Values down to the detriment. I sent a letter to you urging you to expand access to the main Street LendingProgram Including by setting up an asset based Lending Program and addressing the commercial real estate market. In addition to expanding the main Street Lending program theres been meaningful interest in opportunities to allocate remaining cares act funds. In august House Financial ServicesCommittee Ranking member mchenry and i sent a letter to each of you urging you to implement the remaining funds under title 4 to work to the fullest extent, including by expanding the main Street Lending program to further support main street businesses, their workers and the american economy. The Federal Reserves 133 facilities played a Critical Role in strengthening the economy. Its important to continually assess what areas of the economy and Financial Markets continue to be in support and identify options for providing additional needed support whether through expanding existing facilities or creating new facilities. In july i sent a letter to the federal banking regulators urging each of them to extend and expand relief where there is discretion including relief from the community banked leverage ratio through december 2021. The troubled debt restructures to at least january 1, 2022. And the expected credit losses to at least january 1, 2023. Since that letter ive heard additional concerns from both banks and Credit Unions. Not only have banks and Credit Unions experienced a significant flow of deposit in flow of deposits during this pandemic but Congress Also has tasked them with supporting the economy, particularly through the paycheck protection program. Their role and these unique circumstances threaten to cause key regulatory thresholds to be breached, and a ratcheting of regulation that would otherwise not occur that could keep them on the side lines. The Regulatory Framework should account for these unique circumstances and enable banks and Credit Unions to continue to support the economy. Title 4 also contapes robust oversight provisions. Section 4026 is what brings us here today, and it also established the Congressional Oversight Commission which has held two public hearings and issued four reports today. And the special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery who has today issued one report and continues his important work. During todays hearing i look forward to hearing how the Financial Resources provided under the cares act have benefitted the American People and the economy. An update on the status of the 133 emergency facilities including an assessment in the opportunities for and expand the main Street Lending program. Steps the fed and trashy have taken and will continue to take in order to provide transparency into the loans, loan guarantees and other investments under the cares act. Opportunities to utilize any of the remaining funds to provide Financial Support and additional liquidity to the economy and opportunities to tailor the Regulatory Framework to account for the unique circumstaes of the pandemic and role of the financial institutions, and whether congressional action is needed. Although there have been positive economic signs in recent months americans continue to struggle with feel the effects of the covid19 pandemic and still need relief. Unfortunately republicans repeated efforts to deliver targeted relief in areas where we can agree has been rebuffed by the democrats. Negotiating to a realistic package that can actually get passed and signed into law would best serve the American People during this difficult time. I appreciate the work of both secretary mnuchin and chairman powell in response to this horrible pandemic. To support Financial Markets, businesses and the economy. Thank you again to each of you for joining the committee today. Senator brown, are you with us . I am, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Its a pleasure to be here again. Im disappointed this hearing wasnt held fully remote. Im glad to see masks in the hearing room. Chairman powell, i want to thank you for your leadership in calling for a National Mask mandate, something no other republican im aware of has done. I know many of my colleagues, republicans and democrats cringe when they see these trump rallies, when they see people packed together shouting, not Wearing Masks. We should be trying elected officials from the president to the rest of us should be trying to stop this virus not spread it. Today there are more people out of work than there were during the 2008 financial crisis as if were through this crisis and well on the road to recover. Thats what happens when you measure the health of the economy only through the stock market. Their continue to be only about 1,000 deaths per day from the coronavirus. That doesnt show up in corporate Quarterly Earnings reports apparently. In 22 States Coronavirus cases are surging rather than receding, and scientists and Public Health experts predict it will only get worse as fall and winter begin. Most of my colleagues know that. Most of you have children and grandchildren trying to either educate their kids at home or worrying as schools open without sufficient plans to protect children and teachers and cafeteria workers and security guards and custodians. That doesnt even include our sons and daughters and the risk they face at colleges and universities. You wouldnt know any of that if you looked at corporate forecast. The president and this administration continue to act like everything is business as usual because for them it is. The coronavirus isnt really affecting them or their wealthy friends or their comfortable jobs. Ceos arent the people working the cash registers or cleaning hospital beds. They arent risking their lives every day to keep food on the table. Most ceos dont live in the neighborhoods where black squb minority owned restaurants and businesses are shutting down. All of us should think for a moment of the anxiety with the essential worker, the stress she faces. Think about coming home at night worried you might have picked up the virus at work, and you might be exposing your children and your family. Clevelands a pretty good barometer for the country long before the great recession, our tax trading and policy essentially abandoning the industrial midwest. Factory after factory closed with no plan to rebuild our local economies. Entire neighborhoods, entire towns hollowed out. My zip code 44105 had the most closures in the United States at the beginning of 2007. By the next year thousands of cities across the country were suffering, millions of families lost their homes. The story of our zip code became the story of the whole country because the government took care of wall street, took care of the biggest banks, it failed to take care of everybody else. Just 10 years later we had yet another crisis where cleveland is a har binger of whats happening across the country. Propublica illustrated it pretty recently. They covered a big Company Called trancedine that has offices in downtown cleveland. Its gotten plenty of help from taxpayers to get through this pandemic. The company is borrowing money at regard low Interest Rates and while at the same time laying off its workers. 3,000 workers in cleveland are going to lose their jobs during the pandemic while the companys executives keep making money. The ceo of transdine, the chairman made at last count 60 million a year, and this is happening all around the country. Government help is readily available for big corporations while Small Businesses struggle to survive and workers are on their own. Millions have lost job at the beginning of august 6,000 jobs in my state. Workers lost their 600 a week unemployment payment. The 600 a week kept more than 12 Million People out of poverty. What are these families to do . How are they going to make rent or their mortgage payment on october 31st . You cant tell them, oh, just go out and get a job inthere are no jobs because the president hasnt controlled the virus. Millions of people are stuck inside their homes, separated from loved ones to stay safe, trying to avoid contracting this disease. Black and brown communities including nativeamerican tribes have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, still dont have equal access to the Federal Reserve lending facilities or ppp loans. We know it would not have been this bad if back in february and march the president of the United States had done his job. We all know that, republicans and democrats alike. We werent shocked by the quotations of the president and the discussion of the president when he talk today the Washington Post reporter. But imagine if the president instead of lying to us the president treated the American People like adults and leveled with us . Imagine if he wore a mask, the president wore a mask and practiced social distancing . Imagine if he had a real plan to organize all of americas vast ingenuity and to scaleup production of tests and Contact Tracing and protective personal equipment. First of all, businesses would be reopen right now. Our children would be back in school safely, almost all of them. Workers would still have their jobs, and tens and tens of thousands of grandparents would still be uhuh live. We know that. But now americans are watching the stock market surge, and then the president and his economic advisors saying the economy is just great. Theyre wondering what great economy theyre talking about. The ohioens i talked to and anyone who understands economics know workers are the foundation of our economy. They know all too well what happens when you let wall street run things and ignore main streets across the country. Ohioens have watched for decades as factories closed, investments dried up, store fronts were boarded over and communities that once were thriving. They know what its like to wake up one day and no health care, no paid sick leaves and no power over your schedule. These ohio workers know what its like to be treated as expendable by large corporations, and too often by this government. And remember as ohio so goes today americans are waking up and realizing they have a president who thinks much of the country is expendable. And no, not everyone in government feels that way. The chairman of the fed has said over and over we need more access, more money to help families with their rent and mortgage. In short we need the government to actually lead and use our countrys vast resources to avoid a catastrophic recession. In our last hearing in this committee all the expert witness, the one chosen by the minority, the two chosen by the majority, they all agree to one thing. People need their government to actually step in to support our families, something the Senate Majorities fails to do. Seems the only people that arent getting this message that we need government to step up in a big way for unemployed workers, for emergency rental assistance to reopen our schools safety, the local governments, it seems the only people who arent getting that message are President Trump, secretary mnuchin sitting in front of us today and republican senators scattered around the room. Mitch mcconnell moves heaven and earth to do huge favors for big corporations. Look at the tax give away. We spend 2 trillion making the richest people in our country richer. Not even close. He promised workers could get a 4,000 raise. None of that helped. It was incredibly unpopular, but mcconnell got all his republican senators he always it does to vote for. Trump wanted it, then mcconnell wants it. Senator mcconnell has made sure trumps corporate judges are improved. Hes bent over backwards for a s more that will gut the Affordable Care act. And now we know hes even willing to reverse his own position to confirm yet another Supreme Court justice. When it comes to doing the bidding of wall street and wealthy Mitch Mcconnell can whip the senate into action. He thinks Everything Else can wait. Most americans cant afford, mr. Chairman, to wait any longer. Were up against a Global Health crisis that will spiral into a Global Economic crisis unless we act now. We face a challenge that requires this government to be at its best to Work Together to do big things. We need an economic package for everyone to help keep families in their homes to keep seniors and veterans and we need it fast. Democrats are eddy to meet this moment. House democrats passed the heroes act five months ago. President trump serve when will they be ready to do the same for everyone else. We will now move to th