'Small businesses employ close to 50% of the American workforce and obviously are the most vulnerable': Ivanka Trump

Yahoo Finance’s Sibile Marcellus spoke with Ivanka Trump on how the White House is handling the coronavirus pandemic. Yahoo Finance's On The Move panel discusses.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Also, for more on the government response to coronavirus, our Sibile Marcellus sat down last hour with Ivanka Trump, the senior advisor to the president and, of course, his daughter as well. And she talked about what the administration and government is doing.

IVANKA TRUMP: The core of what the president has been advancing since the beginning of this administration is support for these businesses that are truly the backbone of this country. So when you think about business in America, a lot of people tend to think towards the big businesses. But the small businesses employ close to 50% of the American workforce, and obviously, are the most vulnerable from a cash flow situation and in these turbulent times. So we were very, very focused-- not only throughout the course of the past three years on cutting regulations that disproportionately impact them, on creating more flexibility and ability to access capital, on helping upskill and reskill the workforce that they benefit on-- I'm thinking about how we can expand benefits to them without hurting their bottom line in terms of paid family leave, obviously, such an relevant issue right now.

So we've been fighting for small business for a long time. But in this particular bill, in addition to all of the other relief-oriented elements that may help a small business owner individually or their family, there's over $350 billion in the form of loans. But they're really more grants than loans. What we're seeking to do is helping bridge people. We were incredibly healthy economy, so we want to just bridge people until the world reopens. So we believe that when the world reopens, it's all going to come back.

Because fundamentally, you talk to small business owners, they had never had a better year. You talk to workers-- wages were up, unemployment was at historic lows. So we want to get people through this-- this horrible health crisis that was no fault of their own.

JULIE HYMAN: And that was Ivanka Trump, of course, senior advisor to President Trump. Sibile Marcellus-- who conducted that exclusive interview-- is joining us now. Sibile, it's good to see you, remotely. Talk to me about what else Ivanka Trump had to say. And, I know, you know, she has been in the past a champion of the, for example, Family Medical Leave Act-- which perhaps some people are also tapping into right now. What were some of the other points of your conversation?

SIBILE MARCELLUS: That's right, Julie. So I spoke to Ivanka Trump from her office at the White House. And she was basically talking about her role when it comes to this $2 trillion fiscal stimulus package. And what she was saying for small businesses is that if they retain their workers, then they are able to get those grants pretty much-- those loans, pretty much as a grant. So they don't want small businesses to have to worry about making payroll while also having to pay the rent, utilities, and other bills.

When it comes to sick pay, she was talking about how important that is-- especially now that we're dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. So she was saying that this legislation allows these small businesses to offer sick leave, and they get tax breaks for it. But if they're not able to put that money upfront, then they can apply for a waiver. And so as soon as this Friday, small businesses can go to banks and start getting these loans. They want to speed this up as much as possible and get relief into the hands of those who need it as quickly as possible.

JULIE HYMAN: All right, Sibile thank you so much for bringing us that interview. We'll see how quickly all of that happens. Hopefully it can be very rapid.