The Trump administration has begun internal deliberations on an additional aid package (bill #4) to respond to the coronavirus crisis and "White House officials have in recent days discussed pitching a payroll-tax cut, a capital-gains tax cut, creating 50-year Treasury bonds to lock in low interest rates, and a waiver that would clear businesses of liability from employees who contract the coronavirus on the job," according to a report in the April 6 Washington Post.

President Trump previously expressed interest in additional industry-specific relief in the next bill, including financial assistance for mortgage markets and the travel industries, and a $2 trillion infrastructure package. The Post report said chief of staff Mark Meadows and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow are opposed to pursuing infrastructure in the next bill. Payroll tax and capital gains tax changes have been previously pushed by economists close to the White House.

Over the weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) continued to pivot away from previously espoused ideas like infrastructure investment and toward a focus in the next bill on bolstering components of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Pub. Law No. 116-136) enacted March 27, even calling the still-developing next package "CARES 2" in an April 4 letter to Democratic members.

"We must double down on the down-payment we made in the CARES Act by passing a CARES 2 package, which will extend and expand this bipartisan legislation to meet the needs of the American people. CARES 2 must go further in assisting small businesses including farmers, extending and strengthening unemployment benefits and giving families additional direct payments," the Speaker said. "We must also provide the desperately needed resources for our state and local governments, hospitals, community health centers, health systems and health workers, first responders and other providers on the frontlines of this crisis."

On timing, the letter said, "Our communities cannot afford to wait, and we must move quickly. It is my hope that we will craft this legislation and bring it to the Floor later this month." Congress is not expected to reconvene before April 20. The President has said the intervening period over the next two weeks will be a crucial and difficult time in the crisis, and Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx on Saturday said, "This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy … "

Signals that the next package will provide more money toward existing programs as opposed to new starters could be bolstered by other reports from the weekend regarding record unemployment numbers and strains on medical supplies and infrastructure. There have also been challenges in implementing the "Paycheck Protection Program" small-business loan program that has employee-retention forgiveness terms, and views that it may be insufficient. Several press reports have described 'hiccups' in implementing the PPP, the guidance for which was still being rolled out until implementation began Friday, but it has nonetheless set up thousands of loans for billions of dollars.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the main author of that portion of the CARES Act, tweeted on April 4: "Based on the demand we saw on Day One, it is clear we will need more money for #PPP by late May. Our rough estimate is that if 2/3 of the lenders that will participate in #PPPloans aren't up & running yet, the $349 billion will run out around June 6." Calls for increased funding for the program have come from economists including Michael Strain, who said in a March Bloomberg opinion piece that the program needs to be four times bigger: "It will take $1.2 trillion to replace 80% of the revenue of businesses with fewer than 500 employees for three months in industries except for manufacturing … "

The Administration is said to recognize more money will be needed for the program. Additional CARES Act implementation guidance is expected this week, including on the employee retention tax credit.

EY Alerts and resources are at here .

The global EY Tax COVID-19 Response Tracker updated through April 2 is here .

EY Webcasts this week include:

• Tuesday, April 7. Tax in a disrupted market, CARES Act: Navigating the NOL carryback and international tax considerations, 1:00 p.m. ET. Register here.
• Friday, April 10. Tax in the time of COVID-19 12:00 p.m. ET. Details and registration information forthcoming.

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