Senator Dick Durbin Previews 3rd COVID-19 Relief Bill, But Offers Few Details

On Thursday, U.S. Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin hosted a live webinar to discuss the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The webinar aired just hours before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to introduce a new relief bill, which, if passed, will be the third relief measure signed by President Trump since he addressed the nation about the ongoing pandemic last week.

“We’re living in a dangerous moment,” Durbin warned before previewing the bill he says could provide essential relief for workers and businesses in the coming weeks. Illinois has recorded 288 cases of Coronavirus and one death, numbers which Durbin says dramatically understate the crisis.

“We do not have adequate testing,” Durbin explained. With roughly 350 tests administered per day in a state of 12.5 million, the actual number of infected is likely “way bigger than 288.”

Even with a relatively low number of recorded cases, businesses in Illinois are already reeling from the consequences of social-distancing orders that have shuttered restaurants and all but required citizens to stay home. 

To stave off the worst economic effects of the crisis, the President Trump has already signed into law two bills designed to provide financial assistance to workers and businesses. If passed, Durbin says the third package could bring the total government relief spending to $1 trillion.

“We are looking at unprecedented spending,” Durbin said. Still, he predicted that years from now, “we’ll see that as a small measure … it’s going to take much more.”

Pressed for details on what measures the new relief bill will include, Durbin was unwilling to make any specific predictions but said he is hoping to inject money into the economy, starting first with workers and then businesses.

Regarding a proposed $1,000-per-person stimulus package, Durbin said he believes there are more effective strategies to revive the economy. “Dropping money out of a plane won’t work,” he said. Instead, Durbin recommended allocating that money to unemployment benefits. “But I’m open to ideas,” he said.

That openness to new ideas characterized much of the webinar, in which Durbin repeated that he and the federal government have only just started taking the first of many steps that will be required to rebuild the economy. “We have some ideas, but we are at the early stages, and I’m open to suggestions,” Durbin responded when asked how the new bill will support manufacturers. 

In the webinar, Durbin said he has spent the past two weeks speaking with CEOs from various industries, and “they are seeing disaster.” None more so, Durbin said, than airlines, some of which are losing “$90 to $100 million per day.”

When asked how the third relief bill will support the airline industry, Durbin said he was adamant about providing relief for an industry whose challenges “will ripple through the economy” but cautioned that any grants, loans or cash injections provided would come with stipulations to prevent profiteering, specifically citing stock buybacks.

The hospitality industry is arguably in an even more precarious position than airlines, and Durbin’s outlook for that sector is unlikely to inspire confidence. “It’s going to be devastating … no two ways about it,” he said. “I reached out to two of my favorite restaurants to buy gift cards; it’s not going to fix it, but it’s something.”

To support small businesses, Durbin said Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has already asked the Small Business Administration to roll out new low-interest federal loans. 

Durbin said he expects McConnell to introduce a bill today, and he hopes it will be pursued with the same “bipartisanship and timeliness” that he says helped the first two bills become law within a week. 

Once the bill is introduced, Durbin said he hopes for an abbreviated negotiation process but is prepared to “stay in the room until we get it done.”