DURHAM, N.C. – Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced his intention to comply with a request by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that the Federal Reserve return unused emergency relief funds by the end of the year.
Center for Responsible Lending Executive Vice President Keith Corbett made the following statement:
Our country continues to be roiled by a pandemic that is taking the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The worst impacts of this catastrophe, both health-wise and economically, are being experienced in Black and Brown communities. And yet the relief earmarked for these devastated communities is just not getting there.
Pulling these emergency loan funds back displays a lack of “care” in Cares Act implementation. We need not only these critical credit facilities for the survival of our businesses, but much, much more. We need an enormous infusion of support that brings immediate relief to communities that are losing their lives and their sources of livelihood.
Congress must stay focused on the pressing needs of this country, notwithstanding efforts to undermine real progress toward recovery. Our nation cannot wait for resistance to progress to play out. We need robust relief that meets the overwhelming needs of the moment now. We need swift passage of the HEROES Act with improvements to relief programs that make them more accessible rather than cutting off access to communities that need relief the most.
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Press Contact: carol.parish@responsiblelending.org