United States President Donald Trump’s senior Advisor and daughter Ivanka Trump has said Small businesses employ close to 50% of the American workforce, and obviously are the most vulnerable from a cash flow situation. While giving interview to Yahoo Finance,Advisor Ivanka Trump said The $2 trillion fiscal stimulus sets aside over $350 billion in loans for small businesses. “We want to just bridge people until the world reopens,”

The $2 trillion fiscal stimulus package recently signed into law by President Trump includes over $350 billion in loans to small businesses currently facing financially devastating losses due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The $2 trillion fiscal stimulus sets aside over $350 billion in loans for small businesses. “We want to just bridge people until the world reopens,” Advisor Ivanka Trump said.

“The president had a mandate, which was to think big and swing for the fences,”  “And with these unprecedented times and with a forced closure of what was the healthiest economy ever, we thought big and this is $2.2 trillion of relief that’s going directly to workers, front-line responders and small businesses.”

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., the economy was on a strong footing. Wages were growing fast for low-income workers, and the unemployment rate was near record lows. “We want to get people through this horrible health crisis that was no fault of their own,” said Trump.

The loans will work as grants as long as small businesses retain their workers as they deal with keeping up with their rent payments, utility and other bills. “Every state’s a little bit different in terms of what they’re deciding to do in terms of mandatory shutdown, but [we’re] making sure that they can keep their workforce employed, and don’t create vulnerabilities on the other end.”

While the federal government is stepping up its support for small businesses, individuals and the private sector also have a key role to play, Ivanka Trump says. She encourages people who have the means to think of creative ways of supporting local businesses: for example, pre-paying for services they know they’ll use in 6 to 12 months.

“I did it on a personal level with my local dry cleaner and my local florist, just to sort of assist in a small way during this time. So it’s really heartening to see…people, you know, buying local produce …to support farms…and then freezing it,” Ivanka Trump said.