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NMMA Outlines Priorities for COVID-19 Stimulus Package

| General Government Relations

Congress is finalizing its third relief package in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19), which is expected to be north of $1 trillion. NMMA has reviewed draft versions of the legislation and remained in close contact throughout the weekend with policymakers in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate as they finalize the economic stimulus bill.

As part of its advocacy outreach, NMMA outlined to Congress and the administration measures that would assist the industry through this uncertain time by removing tariffs, providing financial certainty for businesses, and ensuring public access to water. An overview of the priorities NMMA sent to Congress and the administration are below and the full letter is available here.

Tariff Relief

  • Remove the Section 301 Chinese tariffs and Section 232 aluminum and steel tariffs.

Ensure Financial Certainty for Businesses

  • Provide tax credits to all businesses to pay workers during periods that a business is forced to temporarily close.
  • Create a federal Manufacturing Resiliency Fund.
  • Allow companies to defer taxation on income from loan medication, forgiveness or cancellation.
  • Delay all scheduled federal tax payments for 90 days by waiving interest and penalties that would otherwise apply.
  • Streamline approval for the small business disaster loan program.
  • Set up a national small business sustainability program to support employee retention.
  • Establish a "small business czar" to help businesses navigate the new programs that will assist in the recovery.
  • Provide capital to pay off or refinance existing loans and support operational expenses.
  • Permanently repeal research and development amortization.
  • Assist with major event and meeting cancellations.

Continued Access to Public Waters

  • Keep federal lands and waters open and accessible within the reccomendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
  • Waive all fees to access public lands and waters.

NMMA has launched a COVID-19 webpage to serve as a one stop shop for a variety of helpful resources for manufacturers, business owners, and the general public: https://www.nmma.org/coronavirus.

If you have questions, please email NMMA’s COVID-19 task force at [email protected].