INSIGHTi

Larger Businesses and COVID-19: Financial
Relief and Assistance Resources
Updated August 20, 2020
This CRS Insight presents selected resources and CRS products potentially relevant to medium and large
businesses directly affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic seeking economic
relief and assistance.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted on March 27, 2020, contains
provisions to assist businesses. This Insight focuses on potential sources of assistance designated for
medium and large businesses that do not qualify for Small Business Administration programs or other
assistance programs for small businesses. For small business assistance programs, see CRS Insight
IN11301, Small Businesses and COVID-19: Relief and Assistance Resources, by Maria Kreiser.
Note that this Insight may not include every instance of federal assistance to medium or large firms
provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Selected Resources
Department of Treasury
The Treasury’s Preserving Jobs for American Industry resource page describes two programs that provide
federal grants, loans, or loan guarantees directly to select businesses affected by the COVID-19
pandemic—the Payroll Support Program and the CARES Act Loan Program. Both programs were
announced on March 30, 2020.
Payroll Support Program
The Payroll Support Program benefits airline industry employees only, providing up to $25 billion for
passenger air carriers, $4 billion for cargo air carriers, and $3 billion for airport contractors, including
those that provide food, security, ticketing, and cleaning services to air carriers. The details of the
assistance are outlined in four documents released April 2, 2020, April 3, 2020, April 20, 2020, and July
14, 2020. Applications were accepted online until April 27, 2020, and Treasury began providing payment
data for individual recipients on May 12, 2020.
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
IN11368
CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

---

Congressional Research Service
2
CARES Act Loan Program
The CARES Act Loan Program has limited eligibility, and it provides up to $25 billion for passenger air
carriers, $4 billion for cargo air carriers, and $17 billion for businesses critical to national security.
Treasury released procedures and minimum requirements for the program on March 30, 2020, frequently
asked questions documents on April 6, 2020 and July 15, 2020, and opened the online application on
April 8, 2020. Applications received after April 30, 2020, were considered at the discretion of the
Secretary of the Treasury.
In general, companies that apply for assistance must, among other things, be part of the specified
industries, maintain their current employment levels until at least September 30, 2020, and suspend stock
buybacks and dividend payments until September 30, 2021 (for payroll support) or until one year after the
loan received is repaid (for the loan program).
For a more on these CARES Act assistance provisions see CRS Report R46329, Treasury and Federal
Reserve Financial Assistance in Title IV of the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136), coordinated by Andrew P.
Scott.
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System’s COVID-19 resource page outlines the actions the Fed has taken in
response to the pandemic. Three emergency funding, credit, liquidity, and loan facilities that could
potentially assist medium and large corporations are described below.
Main Street Lending Program
The Main Street Business Lending Program benefits businesses that were in “good financial standing”
with their lending institutions before the pandemic.
Three credit programs announced in April became fully operational on July 6, 2020—the Main Street
New Loan Facility (MSNLF), the Main Street Priority Loan Facility (MSPLF), and the Main Street
Expanded Loan Facility (MSELF)—with eligible lenders (e.g., banks) making loans to eligible borrowers
(i.e., businesses). The MSNLF and MSPLF assistance targets new loan financing and the MSELF targets
existing loan financing.
In general, businesses are eligible if they were established in the United States before March 13, 2020,
and have the majority of their operations and employees there. They may apply through the MSNLF and
MSPLF for five-year term loans for amounts between $250,000 and $50 million (originated after April
24, 2020) and through the MSELF for loans between $10 million and $300 million (originated on or
before April 24, 2020), with all loan amounts capped by their existing debt levels and ratios.
Businesses applying for assistance using the Main Street Lending Program may participate in only one
facility (MSNLF, MSPLF, or MSELF).
The Main Street Lending Program was announced April 9, 2020. The Fed accepted comments until April
16, 2020, and expanded the scope and eligibility of the program on April 30, 2020 (adjusted loan
amounts); June 8, 2020 (extended credit to small- and medium-sized businesses); and July 17, 2020
(extended credit to nonprofit organizations).
The Main Street Lending Program began accepting lender registrations on June 15, 2020, and three credit
facilities became fully operational on July 6, 2020.
Details on the eligibility and operational status of all the facilities and their expansions are provided in
regularly updated Main Street Lending Program Frequently Asked Questions documents (for-profit and
non-profit) and on the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s website.

---

Congressional Research Service
3
Commercial Paper Lending Facility
The Commercial Paper Lending Facility (CPFF) will purchase commercial paper (short-term debt) from
eligible corporations until March 17, 2021. The terms and conditions, released March 17, 2020, and
updated March 23, describe eligibility requirements. The purchases are made through the Fed’s primary
dealers, rather than directly from the businesses themselves.
In general, issuers of U.S. commercial paper, including municipal issuers and U.S. issuers with a foreign
parent company, are eligible if their paper held a high credit rating on March 17, 2020, the day the
program was announced.
The facility began making purchases on April 14, 2020.
Corporate Credit Facilities
The Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility (PMCCF) and the Secondary Market Corporate Credit
Facility (SMCCF) are to support corporate bond markets by buying corporate debt. The PMCCF is to
purchase newly issued debt, and the SMCCF is to purchase already existing debt.
In general, businesses may participate in these facilities if their corporate credit rating was investment
grade on March 22, 2020, the day before the program was announced.
Firms participating in Main Street Lending may not participate in the PMCCF.
The SMCCF, operated by the New York Fed, began purchasing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on May
12, 2020, and corporate bonds on June 16, 2020. The PMCCF began operating June 29, 2020.
Eligibility for the CPFF, PMCCF, and SMCCF is not limited by firm size, but firms must have already
been active issuers in these markets before COVID-19. Generally, larger firms are more likely to have
been issuers.
For more information on these programs, see CRS Report R44185, Federal Reserve: Emergency
Lending, by Marc Labonte, and CRS Insights on Federal Reserve emergency lending,
commercial paper, and corporate bond markets.


Author Information

Julie Jennings

Senior Research Librarian




Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff
to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of
Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of
information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role.
CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United

---

Congressional Research Service
4
States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However,
as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the
permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

IN11368 · VERSION 14 · UPDATED

---