The Paycheck Protection Program must be extended and its eligibility expanded "or else millions of travel jobs are likely to disappear permanently and a U.S. recovery will be severely weakened before it even starts," said the U.S. Travel Association, adding its voice to the chorus clamoring for Congress to resume talks on a new coronavirus relief package.
Hopes had been high that lawmakers would craft new relief legislation ever since the Cares Act was first put in place. In recent weeks, however, Republicans and Democrats have been at an impasse over several key issues, and their attempts to come to a compromise appear to have failed.
Tori Barnes
Over the weekend, the president signed an executive action to provide some relief measures, but the immediate effect of that order is unclear.
"It is critical that leaders in Washington resume talks and move forward on much-needed coronavirus-related economic relief," Tori Barnes, U.S. Travel's executive vice president of public affairs and policy, said in a statement. "The travel and tourism industry accounts for 38% of all U.S. jobs lost so far, and travel companies 83% of which are small businesses remain particularly vulnerable to the economic impact of the health crisis.