Your Congress in Action is a new series that highlights the Capitol Hill news that affects CRM firms the most. This information is sourced from the Coalition for American Heritage, news articles, and more. Be sure to subscribe to the ACRAsphere to ensure you don't miss an update.

• The roll out of the CARES Act assistance to small businesses was rocky. There have been complaints about small businesses having difficulty accessing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and banks that weren’t ready to accept applications. The program was funded at $349 billion and is estimated to run out of money by this week.
• • Republicans in Congress want to pass a narrowly-focused bill to add $251 billion to the PPP. Democrats counter that they support additional funds for the PPP, but also want to include additional funds for state and local governments, hospitals, and food stamp recipients. The two sides are at a stalemate. At this time, infrastructure is not included in the negotiations for the next relief package.
• The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) issued a blanket extension through May 29, 2020 for federal agency use of emergency Section 106 procedures regarding undertakings that respond to emergency and disaster declarations on the outbreak of COVID-19. The extension applies to projects that respond to COVID-19 under the national emergency declared by President Trump on March 13, 2020, and other COVID-19 emergencies or disaster declarations that have already been issued by the President, a tribal government, or the governor of a state, or may be issued by any of them while the extension is in place.

• In the CARES Act, the Federal Reserve Bank established a “Main Street facility” to support bank lending to small and mid-sized businesses with up to 10,000 employees. Businesses with existing loans could get the amount of the loan increased. Unlike the PPP loans, a loan obtained through this program would not be forgivable. Participation in the Main Street facility program does not disqualify businesses from using PPP loans as well.
  
  This program would provide a way for the federal government to quickly provide funds to businesses. However, non-profits are currently ineligible for this assistance. The Federal Reserve is not ruling out assistance to nonprofits in the future, but there is no guarantee that they will be allowed to participate.
  
  The Federal Reserve is offering an opportunity for stakeholders to provide input about their financing needs during the crisis. Nonprofits and other stakeholders have until Thursday, April 16, to provide input here. 
• For the next relief bill that follows the current one in discussion, preservation stakeholders have been considering requests for additional funding for SHPOs, THPOs, and competitive grant programs. The requests would be in addition to the current appropriations. Stakeholders are encouraged to focus on funding for existing programs rather than new programs. Infrastructure appears to be on hold for this bill as well.
• There has been no additional news regarding CEQ’s proposed revised regulations for NEPA. Some members of Congress have voiced their concern over the revisions. Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress has 60 days to review a new federal regulation issued by a government agency such as CEQ and, by passage of a joint resolution, to overrule the regulation.