Minnesota lawmakers passed legislation Monday night designed to help businesses and workers hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. The measure approved in a special session includes grants to struggling small businesses and an extension of unemployment benefits for out-of-work Minnesotans.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pushed for the COVID-19 relief, but Republicans made it clear that DFL Gov. Tim Walz is the one who put businesses in financial peril with his executive orders that restricted their ability to operate for the past three weeks.
“This is a very important bill,” said Sen. Eric Pratt, R- Prior Lake. “A very important bill for our communities, a very important bill for our small business owners that have been impacted by the latest executive order and important for the employees that work in those industries.”
The business relief totals about $216 million. It includes $88 million that would be distributed through the Department of Revenue to restaurants, bars and other eligible firms that have seen a 30 percent drop in business.
Meanwhile in Washington... A bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled a detailed COVID-19 aid proposal on Monday in hopes it would serve as a model for its battling leaders to follow as they try to negotiate a final agreement on a new round of virus relief.
The dozen or so lawmakers unveiled two bills. One is a $748 billion aid package containing money for struggling businesses, the unemployed, schools, and for vaccine distribution. The other bill proposes a $160 billion aid package for state and local governments that's favored by Democrats and GOP-sought provisions shielding businesses from COVID-related lawsuits. But agreement proved impossible and most Democrats opposed a compromise on the liability issue forged by GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio.
The path forward for their proposals — and for COVID-19 aid more generally — remains unclear. Parallel negotiations over virus relief and government funding are proceeding on the leadership level involving House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and that's where any agreement is likely to be forged.
