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"You could be approaching 15-20% unemployment on a temporary basis," says DeWitt if job losses really pick up in hospitality industry.
"If this continues for another month... we're probably in a [moderate recession] and we're OK," says DeWitt. But he doesn't think it'll end that quickly. He says his office has been modeling if things continue through June. "We would need to cut $500 million out of spending."
But: "We are not in financial trouble. We are starting this in the best financial state of our history," says DeWitt. He's asking the Council to go easy on promises for financial relief to businesses and residents until he can better assess overall impact on city from crisis.
DeWitt will be doing an April revenue forecast to let Bowser put together her 2021 budget based on realistic numbers. Normally, the February forecast would be the basis for the budget.
"The question is now duration [of the crisis]," says DeWitt.
And for all the people saying "but we have a $1.5 billion rainy day fund," remember some of that money has to be kept handy to cover regular government expenses and prevent short-term borrowing from banks.
On that note, the reason the emergency bill is only offering so much in terms of tax deferrals to businesses is that if the deferrals went on for too long, D.C. would face a cash crunch and have to borrow to cover it.
"Our goal here is not to pick winners or losers, simply to help as many people as possible with the limited resources that exist," says @kenyanmcduffie.
"Despite our best efforts, this bill will not provide enough to help every person who is in need," says McDuffie.
"We are facing hard days. But these aren’t the first hard days for this city," says @RobertWhite_DC.
"We have prepared ourselves for a rainy day, and we find ourselves in a rainy day," says White.
"There is an utter lack of leadership from the federal government," says @charlesallen.
News: D.C. Council unanimously approves emergency bill to help businesses and workers impacted by the coronavirus crisis. Expands unemployment insurance, defers some taxes, let's mayor give grants to independent contractors and the self-employed. (Cont.)
Also: it bans evictions and utility cut-offs during the emergency, prohibits price gouging and stockpiling, lets the Council meet and vote virtually, and gives the mayor additional power to respond to the coronavirus.
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