Happy Holidays! We hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays with their loved ones. On this week's Big I Buzz we are discussing where those late holiday packages may be hiding, what you can do to help small businesses become cyber safe and where the COVID-19 relief bill sits today.

Bipartisan COVID-19 Relief and Government Funding Deal Struck

On December 20th, Congress poised to pass a roughly $900 billion COVID Relief Package. The package would allow direct payments of $600 for most Americans. The relief package included a $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September and contains other end-of-session priorities such as money for transit systems, an increase in food stamp benefits and about $4 billion to help other nations provide a COVID-19 vaccine for their people. The COVID-19 relief package includes a number of consequential legislative victories for Big "I" members and their clients. The package includes roughly $325 billion in small business relief, including an additional $284 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) which is reauthorized through the end of March 2021. 

Late Tuesday night, President Donald Trump called on lawmakers to increase direct payments for most Americans from $600 to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for couples.The original relief bill contained a two-year tax break for corporate meal expenses, which President Trump stated was not enough to help struggling restaurants. According to Fox 59, "The White House did not signal any objections to the legislation before it passed, and gave every expectation that Trump would sign it. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was involved in the negotiations over the bill." At the time of writing this, White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's intentions. Read more here. You can also stay up-to-date on changes to this and other COVID-19-related news on the IIAW's COVID-19 Resource Center. 

Holiday Packages Held Up in Transit at Wisconsin Sorting Center

Many holiday shoppers have turned online to find the perfect gifts for their family and friends. But, shipping delays may be keeping many of those packages from arriving on time. According to Satish Jindel, president of Ship Matrix, an estimated 2.2 million packages are falling behind each day. Most of those packages are delayed by just one day, but some are showing up as many as six days late. If you're in the same boat as many Americans, waiting for your gifts to arrive, try getting creative. You can print out a photo of the item and sticking it in a card under the tree or you can come up with a riddle or small scavenger hunt to help clue in the recipient to what's in store. Gift for a kid running late? Tell them that their gift fell off Santa's sleigh, but that an elf or reindeer will be by later to drop it off. Today, December 23rd is the last day for shipping, should you choose to ship USPS Priority Mail Express Service. 

Do Your Part to Help Small Businesses Become Cyber Safe

In a recent survey, 64% of small businesses have reported not having cyber insurance coverage. According to Insurance Business, "As agents and brokers become more aware that cyber is a high-priority issue for their customers, they should work with their insurance markets to get up to speed on what the latest coverages are and the benefits of them. One benefit is the fact that most cyber insurance providers include robust education and training resources with the insurance. You can see more information about how and why small business are seeing an uptick in cyberattacks, and what can be done to combat the rising threat here with CyberScout's free whitepaper, "Small Business, Huge Risks". 

Big I Buzz will return after the holidays on January 6th, 2021. For more news, check out the Action News section of our weekly e-newsletter  Big I Buzz.  If you aren't subscribed, click here  to add your email to our emailing list. We hope that everyone has a great rest of their week! \

Happy Holidays!