After making a big splash last week and injecting a sense of optimism into long-delayed coronavirus relief talks, a bipartisan $908 billion plan is hung up over the specifics of aid to states and localities and liability protections for businesses. Sources familiar with the talks said those two issues were the main sticking points holding up the introduction of the bill's text, after a three-hour conference call on Sunday.

Cities and counties are stepping in to try to preserve their communities' jobs and economies. It looks like it's helping. But the programs need to be designed to prevent mischief and protect taxpayers. These programs need to be carefully structured so that they make effective use of the funds they disburse while protecting the taxpayers' interests.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers have been waiting for additional guidance since April on the deductibility of PPP-funded expenses. The IRS expanded upon this guidance by addressing the situation where a PPP loan has not yet been forgiven by the end of the tax year in which such expenses were incurred.

This week has seen a flurry of stimulus talks on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a coronavirus aid proposal worth about $908 billion on Tuesday, aiming to break a months-long partisan impasse over emergency federal relief for the U.S. economy amid the ongoing pandemic. The new plan came amid a flurry of congressional jostling about the shape of economic relief.

A powerful concoction made up of stimulus hopes, vaccine progress, and a patient Federal Reserve is powering inflation expectations to their highest levels in months. Worries around renewed price pressures have spilled over into the bond market, sending long-term Treasury yields to multiweek highs, amid hopes that a Senate bipartisan coronavirus aid proposal on Tuesday and a COVID-19 vaccine will allow the economy to begin returning to normal in 2021.

More than half of the money from the Treasury Department's coronavirus emergency fund for small businesses went to just 5 percent of the recipients, according to data on more than 5 million loans that was released by the government in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit.

As the COVID-19 pandemic tests the resilience of rural economies in real-time, this five-part research series argues that our attention should not be focused on an outdated, inaccurate image of rural America, but rather on understanding, sustaining, and investing in the hyperlocal strategies already working to bring growth and equity to increasingly diverse and dynamic rural areas.

This piece from the Urban Institute examines how the students, parents, community organizers, and local leaders in Camden, NJ, Perry County, KY, and Hayward, CA are using data to make their communities better for themselves, for their neighbors, and for future generations through the Promise Neighborhoods program.

CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series: Educational Facilities Funding Solutions
Tuesday, December 15, 2020 - 1:00 PM Eastern

CDFA-PFM Capital Markets Webinar Series: Mitigating Default Risk with Bond Guarantee Programs
December 17, 2020 - 2:00 - 3:30 PM Eastern

>>> VIEW THE COVID-19 RESOURCE CENTER   

The Municipal Liquidity Facility is a Federal Reserve program created in April as a new financing source for state and local governments. This MLF factsheet was produced by the Pew Charitable Trusts in October 2020.

The 2020 Housing Instability & Homelessness Report Series is a collection of reports by UNC that utilizes local data to provide informative and actionable research to engage a variety of stakeholders including elected officials, policymakers, funders, service providers, people with lived experience, media outlets, and the general community. This report is for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.

>>> EXPLORE ONLINE RESOURCE DATABASE