When the federal government relaunched its small business aid program on April 27 with an additional $310 billion, lenders and business advocates warned the money would dry up within a few days. Nearly two weeks later, about 40% of the money remains available, according to figures released by the Small Business Administration, even as small businesses continue to suffer from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today applauded the announcement that agricultural producers, for the first time, are now eligible for the Small Business Administration (SBA)'s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs.

In the short term, governments at all levels are facing acute shortfalls because they have extended the due dates for many types of taxes. On top of that, investors have pulled huge sums of money out of the municipal bond markets. Longer-term, a recession will mean lower revenues for city and state governments overall. All those factors may make it a tough time for cities to sell bonds, says Katie Kramer, Vice President at CDFA.

The airport industry says it will need at least $10 billion more from the government to weather the precipitous drop in revenue caused by COVID-19. Meanwhile, on the surface much less traffic means much less money for the Highway Trust Fund, complicating an already tricky surface transportation reauthorization process.

Transit agencies are asking for nearly $24 billion more in federal help after projecting continued losses through 2021.

A new bill from Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Ayanna Pressley aims to help fix the disparity of small businesses accessing capital. The Saving Our Street Act would allocate grants of up to $250,000 to businesses that have fewer than 10 employees. The SOS Act designates 75 percent of its funds to business and nonprofit owners from underrepresented groups, such as people of color, women, and veterans.

Secretary Ben Carson today announced the allocation of $380 million in supplemental administrative fee funding to all Public Housing Authorities (PHA), including Moving to Work (MTW) PHAs. The two months of additional funding may be used for traditional administrative fees as well as for new costs related to protecting assisted families and employees throughout this coronavirus pandemic.

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works passed its bipartisan America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 and Drinking Water Infrastructure Act of 2020 Wednesday morning, voting 21-0. AWIA authorizes $17 billion in new federal spending to invest in water infrastructure as municipalities grapple with coronavirus' impact on their water systems.

CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series: Historic Preservation Financing
Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 1:00 PM Eastern

CDFA Food Systems Finance Webinar Series: The Landscape of Food Systems Finance
Thursday, May 28, 2020 - 2:00 PM Eastern

CDFA-Bricker PACE Webinar Series: PACE Program Efficiency - Managing An Effective PACE Program
Tuesday, June 9, 2020 - 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Eastern

During the May 8, 2020 Weekly COVID-19 Development Finance Briefing, panelists discussed realigning assets to address the COVID-19 crisis, evaluating the risk of not doing anything versus the risk of losing capital, capital solutions that are working locally, and doing the most with the capital you have.

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