LIKE SO MUCH of our lives these days, being an advocate in Washington has changed a great deal since the coronavirus pandemic picked up steam. I had been monitoring the situation in China in February and had a discussion with a senator about it in early March. At the time there seemed to be concern, but no ink- ling that a virus could or would dramatically alter our lives and the Congressional agenda so much. After three months of wrestling with a response, Congress has authorized $3 trillion in new relief spending and the Federal Reserve has added $4 trillion to its balance sheet.
Throughout this crisis, NCA has been focused on providing meaningful content that is relevant to the club community and working with allied organizations to ensure the private club community’s voice is heard in the halls of Congress. We were initially very pleased with the first draft of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) because it had included all 501(c) organizations in the new Paycheck Protection Program (PPP); unfortunately, by the time it passed it only included 501(c)(3) and (c)(19) organizations.
Undaunted, NCA began reaching out to key representatives and senators to get social and recreational clubs back into the mix. We sent letters urging assistance for clubs employees to the House and Senate Small Business Committee Chairs and Ranking Members, Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, House Speaker, Majority and Minority Leaders, and Majority and Minority Whips. Countless texts, phone calls, emails and this app called Zoom I never heard of until COVID-19 became our biggest day-to-day tools. We also had House Majority Chief Deputy Whip Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) and senior staff on NCA webinars to give us a read from inside the ropes—Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff, Dan Meyer, who was also head of Congressional Relations for former President George W. Bush and Marty Reiser who is the Deputy Policy Director for Republican Whip, Steve Scalise. I was in touch with the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration, White House staff and others to spread the word that club employees should benefit from the same protections afforded employees of other businesses. As a member of the United States Chamber of Commerce, NCA signed onto a letter to Congress urging the inclusion of all 501(c) organizations in the next relief package and asked clubs to sign on as well. I’m happy to report that 387 clubs were among the more than 3,500 businesses to sign that letter. All of these things made an impact.
The coronavirus webinars put on by NCA have been primarily educational, but they also serve as a rallying point for us to bring the club community together to achieve an objective. As of this writing, there has been legislation passed by House Democratic Leadership that opens up the PPP to all 501(c) organizations. While this legislation was a nonstarter in the Senate, it represents a significant achievement that shows we can move the needle on policy as a community. The PPP expires on June 30 and Senate Republicans have sent pretty clear signals they are not interested in further relief legislation until mid-July at the earliest. NCA is also supporting new legislation that would enhance the Employee Retention Tax Credit by increasing the wages eligible for the credit to 80 percent of the first $15,000 per employee per quarter for 2020. The bill, H.R. 6776, was introduced by Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Congressman John Katko (R-N.Y.).
Many of you know that in addition to my government relations role at NCA, I am currently the president of Mount Vernon Country Club in Alexandria, Va. As such, I have had the opportunity to see this situation from both perspectives and am personally struggling with the operational, financial and membership issues that come with it—just like you. The 32 webinars NCA has hosted over the last several months has garnered more than 12,000 attendees and have been an honor for me to moderate and I hope you have found them to be as beneficial as I have as the president of a club. There are so many great people in our community with tremendous expertise and wisdom from which we can all learn. COVID-19 has caused great disruption in our lives and professions, but as I told my membership in a video message, I’m confident we will get through this stronger and closer as a community. Thank you to all who have and continue to contribute to the benefit of our larger club community.
Joe Trauger is NCA’s vice president of government relations. He can be reached at 202-822-9822 or [email protected].