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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Friday the U.S. Congress will work on another coronavirus relief bill, with healthcare topping the list of priorities, Reuters reported. McConnell’s comments, in an interview with the Associated Press, signaled leading Republicans were willing to join Democrats in working on what would be a fourth bill responding to the pandemic, which has taken over 6,000 lives in the United States, with over 25 percent in New York City. Infections in the United States account for about 24 percent of the more than 1 million cases worldwide. Previously McConnell had shown little interest in joining Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in working on another coronavirus measure, saying lawmakers should wait to see whether more aid is needed after the Trump administration implements the three response bills already passed by Congress, including an unprecedented $2.3 trillion package signed into law on March 27. Read more.

Don’t forget to register for these important abiLIVE webinars:

- TODAY: Tools to Navigate the Financial Crisis Related to COVID-19 (Panel features Former House Speaker John Boehner!)

- Tuesday: The Consumer Provisions of the CARES ACT, and Local Court Responses to the Pandemic

- Wednesday: Preference Update: SBRA’s Due Diligence Requirement

Nevada is likely to be hit the hardest financially by the coronavirus outbreak, according to research compiled by Moody’s Analytics, YahooFinance reported. “If you're getting hit hard now and businesses are failing, and there's bankruptcy and people are taking on debt or starting to default on debt, it's going to be harder for those economies to recover,” Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi told Yahoo Finance. Moody’s looked at six metrics: exposure to the COVID-19 (20%), demographics of the city and state (20%), trade and travel disruptions (20%), tourism (20%), finance (10%) and commodities (10%). The data, compiled on March 30, comes with a caveat: The virus is constantly evolving and spreading, making it difficult to pin down concrete numbers. Nevada and Hawaii were likely to face more pain because of the massive hit to their tourism industries as most states have discouraged travel and put in place orders for people to stay at home. The state of Washington, the site of the first outbreak within the U.S., was No. 3 on Moody’s list. New York — which has the most confirmed cases of any state — was the No. 5 most exposed, according to Moody’s. On the other end of the spectrum, states like West Virginia and Missouri were the least exposed amid the COVID-19 outbreak so far, setting them up for an easier recovery in the future.

Congress has passed a $2 trillion rescue plan but before those funds start to flow, American companies from the owner of a single liquor store in Boston to corporate giants like Macy’s Inc., must decide what to do about April’s bills: Which obligations do they pay and which can they put off? How many employees can they afford to keep on the payroll? Can they get a break on rent? The decisions they make this week could shape how deeply the economy is damaged by the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. Millions of Americans are suddenly out of work and many businesses have already closed under orders from state and local governments to close to prevent the spread of the virus. A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ended March 21. The U.S. restaurant industry has lost $25 billion in sales since March 1, according to a survey of 5,000 owners by the National Restaurant Association. Nearly 50,000 stores of major U.S. retail chains have closed, according to the companies. An estimated $20 billion in monthly retail real estate loans are due as early as this week, according to Marcus & Millichap, a commercial real-estate services and consulting firm. Many retailers and restaurants have said they are not going to pay their April rents, which in turn poses a threat to the $3 trillion commercial mortgage market. The U.S. restaurant industry has lost $25 billion in sales since March 1, according to a survey of 5,000 owners by the National Restaurant Association. Nearly 50,000 stores of major U.S. retail chains have closed, according to the companies. An estimated $20 billion in monthly retail real estate loans are due as early as this week, according to Marcus & Millichap, a commercial real-estate services and consulting firm. Many retailers and restaurants have said they are not going to pay their April rents, which in turn poses a threat to the $3 trillion commercial mortgage market. Economic activity in the U.S. and other developed countries could be lowered by a quarter, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Friday.

House leaders were scrambling to bring back enough legislators to form a quorum to pass a $2 trillion economic rescue package after a Republican lawmaker suggested he might object to holding the vote using a procedure that avoids putting members on the record, the Wall Street Journal reported. Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.) told a local radio station that he would vote against the bill, and suggested that he might object to allowing the bill to pass by voice vote. If Massie forced a roll-call vote, the House would need a majority of the chamber — 216 votes — in order to proceed with a vote. Otherwise, voting would be delayed until enough lawmakers could return to Washington, D.C. “We have notified our Members of the possibility that the bill may not pass by voice vote,” the press office for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) said in a statement. “The Majority Leader’s Office has sent a notice to Members that if they are able and willing to be in Washington, DC by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, they are encouraged to do so, while exercising all due caution.” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R., La.) echoed that sentiment. Many lawmakers had planned to stay away from the Capitol because of the risks of traveling during the coronavirus pandemic.

Congress’s federal aid package aimed at weakening the coronavirus pandemic’s economic sting has several features to help financially struggling individuals who turn to bankruptcy for relief, including a guarantee they won’t have to give up stimulus checks to pay off overdue bills, the Wall Street Journal reported. Most of the provisions in the stimulus bill brokered by Senate leaders this week are designed to prevent Americans from filing for bankruptcy protection. But the legislation, which was approved by the Senate on Wednesday and will be considered by the House today, also contains measures to protect struggling people and small businesses that do. One provision prevents people who file for bankruptcy protection from needing to turn over any federal money they receive from the stimulus package to cover past debts. The bankruptcy process requires borrowers to either turn over valuable possessions or pledge to repay a portion of their debt for several years before they can cancel the debt that remains.Nonpublic businesses with less than $7.5 million in debt can use the expedited process under the Senate legislation, up from the current threshold of about $2.8 million in debt. More than half of businesses that filed for chapter 11 protection between 2013 and 2017 had debt below $7.5 million and would benefit from the changes, according to University of Illinois Law Prof. Robert Lawless. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

Click here to read ABI’s press release on the CARES Act. 

With measures to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus intensifying, the U.S. is embarking on its sharpest downturn since at least the end of World War II, the Wall Street Journal reported. The states where nonessential businesses are shut down, including California, New York and Ohio, account for more than 40 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Many of those workers and businesses will face severe constraints quickly, surveys suggest. In two weeks time — the period of a typical paycheck — many workers will struggle to make ends meet. After a month, more than half of them could be in trouble. At that point, a fifth of small businesses with lost sales could be on the brink. The stimulus the Federal Reserve announced Monday, including its planned program to support lending to small and midsize businesses, will help. So, too, will the fiscal spending package Congress is hammering out — when it comes. For the economy, the most important questions are how soon help will arrive, how ample it will eventually be and, above all, how long the coronavirus crisis will last. Between the big stimulus likely to come out of Washington, D.C., and plans by lenders to extend loans or offer grace periods on payments, consumers and businesses can manage a shutdown lasting several weeks. Beyond that is uncharted territory, and with the crisis at an intense point right now, few people are thinking that far out. Most economists think the economy will shrink more than 10 percent in the second quarter, at an annual rate, a larger decline than that at the start of the financial crisis and one that would mark the worst contraction since quarterly measurements began shortly after World War II. But most are assuming that by the start of summer, the spread of the virus will have been contained and activity will begin to bounce back. That is no sure thing, with many epidemiological models suggesting containment won’t occur until later.