Over the past several months, ASA has advocated for Congress to act aggressively and provide liability protection for businesses, unemployment insurance relief for employers, and PPP loan forgiveness for small businesses.

ASA, along with nearly 500 business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has urged Congress to pass temporary liability relief provisions in the next Covid-19 relief bill. This effort is crucial to ensuring that staffing firms and other businesses receive protection against unwarranted and inequitable liability lawsuits after they begin to open brick-and-mortar operations.

As businesses continue to deal with the fallout of the pandemic, a top concern for employers is unemployment insurance. ASA has been urging Congress to explore alternatives to the $600 per week in additional benefits awarded and has requested the transfer of federal funds to state unemployment insurance trust funds equal to the amount of benefits paid due to Covid-19.

ASA and nearly 150 other trade associations urged passage of HR 7777, the Paycheck Protection Program Small Business Forgiveness Act. This bipartisan legislation would forgive all PPP loans of less than $150,000 upon the borrower’s submission of a simple document.

Negotiations between the House, Senate, and White House on these issues appear to be at a standstill, but discussions are continuing. Given everything that is at stake, and the fact that there will be an election in less than 100 days, it looks like some agreement will be reached in the coming weeks that will address all three issues. The timing and the total amount of the eventual compromise is still very much in the air.