On April 17, 2020 WTIA organized a webinar conversation with Congressman Derek Kilmer to address questions and concerns by both employers and employees related to congressional action related to the CARES Act and other federal action related to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is significant uncertainty during these times and this conversation shed light on action that the federal government has taken, and may take in the future, to support businesses and families. 

The conversation was moderated by Michael Schutzler, CEO of WTIA, and Congressman Derek Kilmer, the US Representative of Washington’s 6th Congressional District. Michael and Congressman Kilmer were briefly accompanied by Rodrigo Lopez, the Regional Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Washington region. 

In an effort to support businesses in the area, Comcast partnered with WTIA to make this webinar possible. Comcast is serving over 1.6 million residential and business customers in Washington state.

1. What has Congress done to address the coronavirus pandemic so far?

Congress has undertaken actions to financially support employees and struggling employers during the pandemic. The conversation focused on the recently passed CARES Act, which is supposed to address multifaceted challenges caused by the pandemic. The CARES Act focuses on providing monetary relief to individuals and businesses, educational institutions, state and local government, and the public health sector.

In this hour-long conversation, Congressman Kilmer also talked about Small Business Administration Loans and the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and how those programs are available for small businesses to weather the ongoing financial challenges. 

2. What other actions would Congressman Kilmer take?

In response to the need for more funding to support individuals and small businesses, Congressman Kilmer introduced a bill on Monday called the Paycheck Protection Program Extension Act to add an additional $900 billion to the original PPP. He is also sponsoring a bill to add more funding into the Defense Production Act and to expand the use of that law to produce more Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), thereby meeting the needs of hospitals’ PPE shortages.

3. What were the insights Congressman Kilmer gave on future congressional action?

Congress will continue to add more funding to address the public health challenges and economic crisis due to COVID-19. The federal government will create more monetary policies to address all those challenges. He acknowledges that we are going into an economic recession and believes that neither massive tax increases, cutting programs, nor relying on economic growth strategies alone will be enough. He notes that what we need is a comprehensive solution to address those challenges.

4. How has the coronavirus highlighted other policy inequalities? 

Congressman Kilmer also mentioned the widening digital divide due to COVID-19 and the need to close it. He gave an example by sharing a story of Native American high school students without broadband internet who had to travel to another town to take a state mandated online exam. In response to Congressman Kilmer, Rodrigo noted that Comcast is offering Internet Essentials for eligible low-income customers. There is another program that provides the first two months for free. Comcast also allows residential customers to work and study without having to worry about data usage by relieving them from the data cap.

5. Congressman’s Kilmer’s final thoughts…

The Congressman acknowledged that we are in an extremely challenging time and that this virus is truly contagious. However, he closed out on a crucial, uplifting note: while the virus is contagious, “kindness is contagious and caring about each other is contagious.” 

To watch the whole interview between Michael and Congressman Kilmer, click here.

Check out other Business Skills Webinars designed by WTIA, powered by Comcast here. The next webinar is “How to design online meetings with accessibility features” on May 15 and May 20. You can learn more about Comcast’s efforts to support its customers during the COVID-19 crisis by providing low-income families with its Internet Essentials program and pausing data plans to give all customers unlimited data for no additional charge so individuals can work from home and students can continue to learn without worrying about data caps.