ASTA Sets Priorities for Fourth Round of Stimulus
byDaniel McCarthy/
ASTA on Tuesday gave an update for its priorities for the next round of COVID-19 stimulus that could possibly come through Congress.
国会仍未确认它正在考虑通过第四轮刺激,白宫官员在上周末表示,他们并没有积极寻求刺激资金,但是ASTA仍将其优先考虑到时代的到来。
阿斯塔在周二发布的通知中说,当前的《关怀法案》计划确实为其成员提供了一些救济,“鉴于旅行是第一个受到影响的行业,并且很可能是最后一次完全康复的行业之一来自危机。”
According to an ASTA survey, taken of its members between May 1 and 8, 64.8% of its members have applied for a PPP loan and 56.2% have been approved for a loan. Those who haven’t been approved found the process difficult, including finding a financial institution that was willing to take their application.
More than 60% applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), with only 25.9% approved, and more than 75% had applied for unemployment benefits, with 33.4% approved.
While the programs were important steps, to continue to help keep its advisor members afloat during the COVID-19 crisis, ASTA is pushing Congress for the following:
“Ticket Agents” be added to Section 4112
ASTA is hoping that Section 4112 of the CARES Act, which allows the Treasury to give payments to air carriers and certain contractors, be amended to include “ticket agents” and that funding be boosted to $7.7 billion.
That would give advisors funds to use for payroll supports ($7.7 billion is the total projected 2020 travel agency revenue loss, according to an ASTA survey).
“While a portion of our membership has been able to access relief under several of the CARES Act’s programs, this relief is unlikely to be sufficient given that travel was the first industry impacted,” ASTA wrote.
Expansion of PPP
《 Cares Act》中的薪水保护计划(PPP)是被认为是许多小型企业的救世主的核心。However, according to ASTA, “shortcomings associated with the PPP’s rollout and implementation suggest the need for improvements” including an increase in funding to $900 billion, an extension through the end of 2020, an increase in maximum threshold from 250% of monthly payroll to 400% of all business expenses, and an increase in the loan forgiveness provisions from 8 weeks to 12 weeks.
旅行社也要求PPP贷款条款ve from two years to at least five years, that the non-payroll forgiveness cap goes from 25% to 50%, and that the employee cap be pushed to 2,000. ASTA also said that the PPP needs to be clarified to answer whether or not ICs may be include in the payroll for determining the PPP loan amount.
Additional funding for ticket agent loans
The $25 billion from the Treasury Department that was earmarked to go to airlines, aircraft repair stations, and “ticket agents,” the statutory term for advisors, should be increased and the loan extended to 10 years to accommodate “the travel industry’s long anticipated recovery.”
ASTA still expects most of its members to get relief elsewhere within the CARES Act.