The Treasury Department is looking to extend a handful of the Federal Reserve programs used to get markets through the early days of the coronavirus crisis but is looking to end several others.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin speaks during a news conference to announce the Trump administration’s restoration of sanctions on Iran, at the U.S. State Department in Washington, September 21, 2020.
Patrick Semansky | Pool | Reuters
Among those that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked the Fed to continue for another 90 days are programs that provided short-term “commercial paper” loans to businesses, as well as another for money market functioning and a backstop related to the Paycheck Protection Program.
However, Mnuchin also asked that other programs that were supported by Treasury capital come to an end for now. They include two facilities that bought corporate bonds as well as the Main Street Lending Program, which was targeted towards small- and medium-sized businesses.
The programs were set to expire at the end of the year. They were instituted in early March to open markets that had frozen during a panic-selling frenzy as fear over the pandemic grew.
However, they were sparsely used for the most part and the subject of some criticism, particularly the Main Street facility.
This is breaking news. Check back here for updates.
