Over 150 CEOs called on Congress to pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion economic relief plan in a public letter on Wednesday.
The letter was addressed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. It was signed by Google's Sundar Pichai, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, AT&T's John Stankey, Wells Fargo Bank's Charles Scharf, American Airlines' Doug Parker and Zoom's Eric Yuan, among others.
"We write to urge immediate and large-scale federal legislation to address the health and economic crises brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic," the letter says. "More than a year after the first coronavirus case was reported in the United States, our nation is still struggling to combat the spread and reverse its economic fallout."
The letter continues, "Previous federal relief measures have been essential, but more must be done to put the country on a trajectory for a strong, durable recovery. Congress should act swiftly and on a bipartisan basis to authorize a stimulus and relief package along the lines of the Biden-Harris administration's proposed American Rescue Plan."
Biden's coronavirus relief package, called the American Rescue Plan, includes $1,400 stimulus checks for Americans making less than $75,000 a year and legislation to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. It also contains an increase in the child tax credit and direct funding to state and local governments, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars for school reopenings, aid to small businesses and coronavirus vaccine rollouts.
The House Budget Committee approved the plan on Monday. The bill will now go to the House floor for a vote later this week, followed by Senate action if it is approved by the lower chamber.
"Strengthening the public health response to coronavirus is the first step toward economic restoration," the business leaders' letter says. "The American Rescue Plan mobilizes a national vaccination program, delivers economic relief to struggling families, and supports communities that were most damaged by the pandemic."
The letter adds that the plan "provides a framework for coordinated public-private efforts to overcome COVID-19 and to move forward with a new era of inclusive growth."
The letter came two days after the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. exceeded half a million.
In a statement to Newsweek on Wednesday, Kathryn Wylde, the CEO of the Partnership for New York, stressed the importance of Biden's relief package for New York residents. The Partnership for New York, a nonprofit business organization, published the letter.
Wylde noted that New York "was hit the earliest and hardest" by the coronavirus pandemic and that Biden's plan provides "the first real relief" to New York's local and state governments.
"For New Yorkers, this is disaster aid, which is essential to maintain government services and rebuild portions of the economy that have been devastated," Wylde said.
This story was updated with comments from Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for New York.
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