The stimulus bill under consideration this week before the Senate codifies only one payment to Americans to help with the economic distress caused by closures in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, but a "tremendous amount" of resources will be made available for companies to keep their workforce employed, Sen. Pat Toomey said Sunday.
"We're hoping this is a relatively brief period," the Pennsylvania Republican said on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "We want those folks to still be associated with their company so they're called back to work rather than feel like they've lost that tie."
There are also "generous, significant" unemployment benefits included on the bill, said Toomey.
But lawmakers will re-evaluate the situation after some time has passed, and if it's believed there will be another round of checks, then more may arrive.
"It's not the most efficient way to do this," said Toomey. "We're sending checks out to a lot of people who will still be salaried people, who still have their income. But it was seen as the fastest way to get money in people's hands."
Meanwhile, the bill does not include industry bailouts or "free money," said Toomey.
"There is a category of funds that’ll be available to the Treasury secretary for direct lending," he said. "That is going to be for really seriously distressed and absolutely essential companies. That's going to be a short list, and it's going to be about, really about American national security."
The majority, though, will be a "broad-based credit facility that will be available across categories, across sectors and industries" and it will have to be repaid, said Toomey.
"This is all going to be liquidity that is provided to fundamentally solvent companies to get them through this time," Toomey said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.