{"id":24631,"date":"2020-03-26T13:34:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T13:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/26\/industry-dodges-restrictive-house-measures-in-senate-bailout-bill\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:56:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:56:49","slug":"industry-dodges-restrictive-house-measures-in-senate-bailout-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/govcon\/2020\/03\/26\/industry-dodges-restrictive-house-measures-in-senate-bailout-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry dodges restrictive House measures in Senate\u2019s bailout bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The $2 trillion economic stimulus package passed by the Senate late Wednesday includes provisions limiting stock dividends for companies that accept governmental loans<\/a> \u2014 but avoids the more restrictive language that was included in the House version of the legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate language, which is expected to be adopted by the House and signed into law by President Donald Trump, also contains $10.5 billion in funding<\/a> for the Department of Defense to combat the fallout from the new coronavirus pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No dividends or other capital distributions of stock can occur until 12 months after the loan has been paid back to the federal government, a restriction sought by good-government groups that worry the money given to industry could be primarily used to bolster shareholder value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, until Sept. 30, any business that takes loan money from the government will have to maintain its employment levels<\/a> at what they were on March 24 of this year \u201cto the extent practicable.\u201d If cuts are needed to survive, a company can reduce employment levels by no more than 10 percent until the end of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was in the House version?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, those restrictions are significantly lighter than what had been proposed in the House version. In addition to the restriction on stock buybacks and dividends, the House sought that all executive bonuses would be frozen, no \u201cgolden parachute\u201d compensation be allowed for departing executives, and the corporation be blocked from doing \u201cany Federal lobbying activities\u201d for the duration of the loan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first two restrictions could have put a company at a disadvantage when trying to attract top talent versus competitors. But the ban on lobbying might have had a particularly big impact when it comes to the often brutal fights over defense dollars that play out on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\t