The Act authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make loans, loan guarantees, and other investments that do not exceed $500 billion in the aggregate to provide liquidity to eligible businesses related to losses incurred as a result of coronavirus. Section 4003(b)(1)-(3) authorizes the Secretary to make loans and loan guarantees available to passenger air carriers and cargo air carriers, as well as certain related businesses, and businesses critical to maintaining national security.
On March 27, 2020, the President signed the âCoronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Actâ or the âCARES Act,â (P.L. 116-136) which provides emergency assistance and health care response for individuals, families and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides emergency appropriations to support executive branch agency operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Act, among other things, authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make loans, loan guarantees, and other investments that do not exceed $500 billion in the aggregate to provide liquidity to eligible businesses, States, and municipalities related to losses incurred as a result of coronavirus. Section 4003(b)(1)-(3) authorizes the Secretary to make loans and loan guarantees available to passenger air carriers and cargo air carriers, as well as certain related businesses, and businesses critical to maintaining national security. Section 4003(c) of the Act requires the Department of the Treasury (âDepartmentâ) to publish application procedures and minimum requirements for loans, loan guarantees, or other investments under Section 4003(b)(1)-(3) within ten days after enactment.
The Act also authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to provide payments to passenger and cargo air carriers, as well as certain contractors, which shall exclusively be used for the continuation of payment of employee wages, salaries, and benefits. Section 4113 requires the Department to publish streamlined and expedited procedures within five days of enactment of the Act for air carriers and contractors to submit requests for such payroll support. Not later than ten days of enactment of the Act, the Department is required to make initial payments to air carriers and contractors that submit requests approved by the Secretary.
Because of the immediate need addressed by these programs and the Actâs urgent deadlines, the Department requests emergency processing for the applications and related reporting under these sections of the Act.
Treasury is submitting a request for non-material change in order to add the âLoan Application Form for Air Carriers and Certain Eligible Businessesâ to OMB Control Number 1505-0263. The necessity and burden for this form was accounted for when the previous submission under 1505-0263 was made, however the form itself was not available for inclusion at the time, given the expedited timetable for implementation of other related provisions of the CARES Act. The addition of this application form will result in an increase of 12,000 responses and 24,000 hours of burden for loan applicants, as was previously detailed in the supporting statement.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.