Congressman Michael Guest spoke with Y’all Politics on Wednesday to discuss several components of the CARE act passed by Congress and other was the federal government is working to curb the impact of COVID-19.
“We are trying to provide a bridge for individuals, for businesses, during the extended outbreak of COVID-19,” said Guest. He said numbers in various parts of the country are looking to be flattening the curve.
He said the number of new diagnosed cases and deaths are beginning to level out or decrease.
Guest said there were five major components of the CARES Act:
- Protect workers who had lost their jobs due to social distancing requirements implemented because of COVID-19.
- Provide money to small businesses through delaying payroll taxes for the remainder of the year and Payday Protection Loans.
- Provide money in order to stabilize larger industries that are vital to the economy and national defense
- Issue individual tax rebate checks to stimulate the economy
- A series of elements that were funded such as hospitals, local and state government, farmers and ranchers as well as money to expand rural broadband.
“We hope to be able to return to the economy we were seeing earlier this year,” said Guest. Before this pandemic there was discussion that this was the best economy the U.S. had seen in years with record low inflation.
Guest said if you are a small business owner looking to take advantage of the loans appropriated in the CARE Act, reach out to your local bank. The Payday Protection Loans will be available through those entities. He said being able to use local banks would allow them to get the money out to small businesses faster.
Congressman Guest said he was able to tour some of the disaster areas from the storms over Easter weekend. He said the Mississippi delegation will support the Governor’s disaster declaration and hope to expedite that process in order to get assistance to those communities faster.
“I will tell you that it was very encouraging to see the number of individuals and volunteers that were out, and that is the great thing about Mississippi. When we do have these types of storms and disasters come through we have neighbors who are willing to come out and help neighbors,” said Guest.
When it comes to making the call to reopen the economy, Guest said they’re looking to the experts to signify when that should happen. He said on one hand you don’t want to risk keeping the economy closed for too long since many Americans rely on it to support their families, but we also don’t want to open it too soon and risk more vulnerable individuals being exposed to COVID-19.
Guest complimented President Trump and his administration on the actions that have been taken in the past weeks to protect America as a whole.
“I think we are going to start seeing a plan here soon with a clearer timeline of when we will see businesses reopening and reopening the economy,” said Guest.
