{"id":806964,"date":"2020-04-30T12:06:01","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T18:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=382467"},"modified":"2020-04-30T12:06:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T18:06:01","slug":"summit-countys-state-and-federal-reps-talk-aid-response-delayed-payments-and-economic-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-countys-state-and-federal-reps-talk-aid-response-delayed-payments-and-economic-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County\u2019s state and federal reps talk aid response, delayed payments and economic recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"423\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/McCluskie-SDN-042118-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/McCluskie-SDN-042118-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/McCluskie-SDN-042118-1-150x102.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/McCluskie-SDN-042118-1-325x222.jpg 325w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><figcaption><strong>Julie McCluskie speaks to the Summit Daily News in Frisco in April 2018. <\/strong><br \/><em>Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>FRISCO \u2014 Federal and regional governments across the planet have been at the core of the global effort to stem the coronavirus pandemic. On the American homefront, the crisis has required unprecedented cooperation and coordination between state and federal governments to address the world\u2019s worst public health crisis in a century.<\/p>\n<p>Summit County, with its tourism-based economy, has been shut down since March 16. The county\u2019s businesses and workers have been at the mercy of the state and federal bureaucratic machinery meant to keep Americans from going homeless and hungry, and it certainly did not start out smoothly.<\/p>\n<p>Glitches in the state and federal programs \u2014 including the rollout of the mammoth $2 trillion CARES Act \u2014 caused delays of payments as well as confusion as to who was eligible for benefits. Most businesses were initially shut out of taking part of the federal government\u2019s Paycheck Protection Program and various Small Business Administration loan and booster schemes due to sheer volume of applications and apparent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/22\/business\/sba-loans-ppp-coronavirus.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">favoritism by certain big banks for their larger clients<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Representing Summit County in Colorado\u2019s state house is Rep. Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, who sits on the critical Joint Budget Committee. McCluskie said she was well aware of the somewhat chaotic rollout of enhanced unemployment benefits in the state, which she said was due to the state\u2019s system not being designed for the volume of claims with which it was hit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row sd-donation sd-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the weeks since, McCluskie said the agency had doubled its staffing and appeared to be processing claims at a better clip.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are hoping that people are finding it easier to use the system as of the last few weeks,\u201d McCluskie said.<\/p>\n<p>But the relief and emergency measures, combined with the sudden economic shutdown, are already leading to a projected dramatic shortfall to the state budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the middle of March, we had a forecast that indicated we would have a $1 billion state revenue shortfall,\u201d McCluskie said. \u201cBy May 12, we will get an update to that forecast, but it is believed that we are looking at doubling or tripling that \u2014 anywhere from a $2 (billon) to $3 billion shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCluskie said that while emergency funds may cover the economy for now, the 2008 recession showed how economic downturns can have long-lasting effects on the state government\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will certainly create many challenges for us in continuing state services at the level we have been able to provide them until the pandemic hit,\u201d McCluskie said. \u201cI personally am very committed to making sure the state maintains essential services, including unemployment insurance for those directly impacted by the loss of work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the public health response, the economic recovery for the state was paramount on the minds of legislators, McCluskie said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t talk about fixing the state budget without talking about getting the economy back up and running,\u201d McCluskie said. \u201cThe High Country resort communities have been impacted in a far deeper way than other parts of the state given that 70% of our economy is driven by tourism, and tourism has come to a dead stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCluskie said that Gov. Jared Polis has put together an economic stabilization and growth council to start working on these issues with the goal of maintaining public health guidelines while \u201cgetting everybody back to work as soon as we can when it\u2019s safe to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the federal end, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, said he, too, was aware of how hard the High Country is being hit by the pandemic as well as how difficult it has been for the average residents to navigate the unemployment and aid programs as guidelines change and payments get delayed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my view, the processes for providing emergency relief have been far too cumbersome,\u201d Neguse said. \u201cThat was the reason we moved quickly with the CARES Act, as we understood the urgency of the crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the execution of that legislation went awry, Neguse said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe worked with the expectation that this administration would be able to implement this quicker than we have seen thus far,\u201d Neguse said about the White House. \u201cWe\u2019ve obviously had a number of false starts and delays in facilitating direct transfers of unemployment insurance or (Small Business Administration) grants and loans. I have continued working with the Colorado delegation and in pushing the administration to work quicker and get relief into the hands of hard-working folks across Summit County and the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neguse advised any constituent having trouble getting their pandemic stimulus money or unemployment relief to <a href=\"https:\/\/neguse.house.gov\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">contact his office<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i>, where he said staff members are compiling a list of constituents who are having trouble with federal programs during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Congress passed another stopgap aid package, which Neguse coined \u201cCARES Act 1.5,\u201d with additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program to help businesses keep employees working as well as the Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance program, which provides up to $10,000 in emergency loans to businesses struggling during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to ensure there is a lifeline for small businesses that are so integral to our High Country economy,\u201d Neguse said.<\/p>\n<p>Neguse said the expectation is for Congress to pass a larger stimulus and aid package later in the spring or summer that would be similar in size and scope to the first CARES Act. That would include billions more in funding for hospitals and for widespread testing, which he said was key to reopening Summit County and Colorado\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn order to move forward in a strategic way to reopen the local, state and broader economy, we need widespread and robust testing,\u201d Neguse said. \u201cWe need to provide leadership for that at the federal level. The hope is that the next big package will include the necessary funding for testing and a mandate from Congress for the administration to come up with a cohesive testing strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-countys-state-and-federal-reps-talk-aid-response-delayed-payments-and-economic-recovery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Julie McCluskie speaks to the Summit Daily News in Frisco in April 2018. Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com FRISCO \u2014 Federal and regional governments across the planet have been at the core of the global effort to stem the coronavirus pandemic. On the American homefront, the crisis has required unprecedented cooperation and coordination between state and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-806964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-12 12:09:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}