More than 150 CEOs urge Congress to pass Biden's Covid relief package

• More than 150 New York chief executives urged Congress to pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package in a letter Wednesday.
• Notable signatories include Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, BlackRock's Larry Fink, Deutsche Bank Americas' Christiana Riley and Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman — who previously backed former GOP President Donald Trump.
• The letter comes as the Democratic-controlled House is set to vote on the bill this week, where it is widely expected to pass and advance to the Senate.

More than 150 New York chief executives urged Congress to pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package in a letter Wednesday.

"Previous federal relief measures have been essential, but more must be done to put the country on a trajectory for a strong, durable recovery," the letter said. "The country's business community is prepared to work with you to achieve these critical objectives."

Notable signatories include Goldman Sachs' David Solomon, BlackRock's Larry Fink, Deutsche Bank Americas' Christiana Riley, and Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman — who previously backed former GOP President Donald Trump.

"It's an important signal of the kind of breadth of support that we're seeing for this rescue plan," top Biden economic advisor Brian Deese said about the letter Wednesday on MSNBC.

The Business Roundtable, a group consisting of CEOs of the largest companies in America, also wrote a letter Tuesday supporting quick passage of a Covid relief bill.

CNBC reported earlier in February that the White House had been reaching out to executives in several industries to rally support for the Biden's American Rescue Plan.

The letter comes as the Democratic-controlled House is set to vote on the bill this week, where it is widely expected to pass and advance to the Senate.

Democrats will attempt to pass the package in the Senate through budget reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority instead of the usual 60 votes necessary to pass a bill.

Read the letter and the list of signatories below:

Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader McCarthy:

We write to urge immediate and large-scale federal legislation to address the health and economic crises brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a year after the first coronavirus case was reported in the United States, our nation is still struggling to combat the spread and reverse its economic fallout.

Previous federal relief measures have been essential, but more must be done to put the country on a trajectory for a strong, durable recovery. Congress should act swiftly and on a bipartisan basis to authorize a stimulus and relief package along the lines of the Biden-Harris administration's proposed American Rescue Plan.

Strengthening the public health response to coronavirus is the first step toward economic restoration. The American Rescue Plan mobilizes a national vaccination program, delivers economic relief to struggling families, and supports communities that were most damaged by the pandemic.

More than 10 million fewer Americans are working today than when the pandemic began, small businesses across the country are facing bankruptcy, and schools are struggling to reopen. The most vulnerable Americans — including women, people of color and low wage workers — are experiencing the worst of the pandemic, with unprecedented job loss, childcare burdens and food insecurity. States and cities have been crushed by pandemic-related expenses and revenue losses.

The American Rescue Plan provides a framework for coordinated public-private efforts to overcome COVID-19 and to move forward with a new era of inclusive growth. The country's business community is prepared to work with you to achieve these critical objectives.

Sincerely,

Yo Akatsuka, President & CEO, Nomura Holding America Inc.

Ellen Alemany, Chairman & CEO, CIT Group Inc.

Simon Allen, Chief Executive Officer, McGraw-Hill Education, Inc.

Jeffrey H. Aronson, Managing Principal, Centerbridge Partners

Neil Barr, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP

Rich Barton, Co-Founder & CEO, Zillow

Candace K. Beinecke, Senior Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP

Charles R. Bendit, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Taconic Investment Partners LLC

Stephen Berger, Chairman, Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC

William H. Berkman, Co-Chairman & CEO, Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc.

Frank J. Bisignano, Chief Executive Officer, Fiserv

Jeff T. Blau, Chief Executive Officer, The Related Companies, L.P.

Kathy Bloomgarden, Chief Executive Officer, Ruder Finn, Inc.

Lora Blum, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary, Survey Monkey

Adam M. Blumenthal, Managing Partner, Blue Wolf Capital Partners

John Borthwick, Founder & CEO, Betaworks

Ari Buchalter, President & CEO, Intersection

Martin S. Burger, Chief Executive Officer, Silverstein Properties, Inc.

Anthony Casalena, Founder & CEO, Squarespace, Inc.

Timothy Cawley, President & CEO, Con Edison, Inc.

Rodgin Cohen, Senior Chairman, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Maria Colacurcio, Chief Executive Officer, Syndio Solutions

Richard A.C. Coles, Founder & Managing Partner, Vanbarton Group LLC

Marc Cooper, Chief Executive Officer, PJ Solomon, L.P.

Cromwell Coulson, President & CEO, OTC Markets Group

Todd C. DeGarmo, Chief Executive Officer, STUDIOS Architecture

Annemarie DiCola, Chief Executive Officer, Trepp, LLC

William R. Dougherty, Chairman, Executive Committee, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Russell Dubner, President & CEO, Edelman US

Douglas Durst, Chairman, Durst Organization Inc.

Blair W. Effron, Co-Founder, Centerview Partners

Joel S. Ehrenkranz, Partner and Co-Founder, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.

Douglas F. Eisenberg, Founder and CEO, A&E Real Estate, LLC

Steven M. Ellis, Chairman of the Firm, Proskauer

Helmy Eltoukhy PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Guardant Health

Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Vice Chairman, Portfolio Manager, Edgewood Management LLC

Ziel Feldman, Chairman & Founder, HFZ Capital Group

Laurence D. Fink, Chairman & CEO, BlackRock

Peter Finn, Founding Partner, Finn Partners

John Fish, Chairman & CEO, Suffolk

Winston C. Fisher, Partner, Fisher Brothers

William E. Ford, Chairman & CEO, General Atlantic LLC

Lynne Fox, Board Chair, Amalgamated Bank

Paul Fribourg, Chairman & CEO, Continental Grain Company

Ryan Gellert, CEO, Patagonia

Pat Gelsinger, Chief Executive Officer, Intel Corporation

Dexter Goei, Chief Executive Officer, Altice USA

Timothy Gokey, Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

Perry Golkin, Chief Executive Officer, PPC Enterprises LLC

James P. Gorman, Chairman & CEO, Morgan Stanley

Barry M. Gosin, Chief Executive Officer, Newmark

Jonathan N. Grayer, Chairman & CEO, Weld North LLC

David J. Greenwald, Chairman, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

Efraim Grinberg, Chairman & CEO, Movado Group, Inc.

Stewart KP Gross, Managing Director, Lightyear Capital

Robin Hayes, Chief Executive Officer, JetBlue Airways Corporation

Leslie W. Himmel, Managing Partner, Himmel & Meringoff Properties, Inc.

Barbara Humpton, President & CEO, Siemens USA

Frederick J. Iseman, Chairman & CEO, CI Capital Partners LLC

Jerry Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer, Delaware North Companies, Inc.

Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman & CEO, Lazard

John Josephson, Chairman & CEO, Sesac

Brad S. Karp, Chair, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

Charles R. Kaye, Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus LLC

Jason Kelly, Founder & CEO, Gingko Bioworks

Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., Chairman & CEO, Visa Inc.

Anthony S. Kendall, Chairman & CEO, Mitchell & Titus, LLP

Richard A. Kennedy, President & CEO, Skanska USA Inc.

Michel A. Khalaf, President & CEO, MetLife, Inc.

Brian Kingston, CEO of Real Estate, Brookfield Asset Management

Scott Kirby, Chief Executive Officer, United Airlines

Philip Krim, Co-Founder & CEO, Casper

Barbara Armand Kushner, President, Armand Corporation

Christopher Larsen, Chief Executive Officer, Halmar International, LLC

Michael Lastoria, Founder & CEO, &pizza

William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.

Rochelle B. Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide

Richard S. LeFrak, Chairman & CEO, The LeFrak Organization

Rich Lesser, President & CEO, Boston Consulting Group

Max Levchin, Founder & CEO, Affirm, Inc.

Aaron Levie, Chief Executive Officer, Box

Jeffrey E. Levine, Chairman, Douglaston Development

Pamela Liebman, President & CEO, The Corcoran Group, Inc.

Martin Lipton, Senior Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Robert P. LoCascio, Founder & CEO, LivePerson, Inc.

Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer, Condé Nast

Mehdi Mahmud, CEO & President, First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

Anthony Malkin, Chairman, President & CEO, Empire State Realty Trust

Anthony E. Mann, President & CEO, E-J Electric Installation Co.

Sandeep Mathrani, Chief Executive Officer, WeWork

Peter W. May, President & Founding Partner, Trian Partners

Andrew McMahon, President & CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America

Anish Melwani, Chairman & CEO, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton Inc.

Avner Mendelson, President & CEO, Bank Leumi USA

Heidi Messer, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Collective[i]

Marc Metrick, President & CEO, Saks Fifth Avenue

Danny Meyer, Chief Executive Officer, Union Square Hospitality Group

Michael Miebach, Chief Executive Officer, Mastercard

Edward J. Minskoff, Chairman & CEO, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc.

Steve Mollenkopf, Chief Executive Officer, Qualcomm

Linda Moore, President & CEO, TechNet

Tyler Morse, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner, MCR Development LLC

Deanna M. Mulligan, Chief Executive Officer, DM Mulligan, LLC

Daniel Neal, CEO & Founder, Kajeet

Suzanne Neufang, Chief Executive Officer, Global Business Travel Association

Liz Neumark, Chair & Founder, Great Performances

Jon Oringer, Founder & Executive Chairman, Shutterstock, Inc.

Doug Parker, Chief Executive Officer, American Airlines

Douglas L. Peterson, President & CEO, S&P Global

Michael Phillips, President, Jamestown Properties LLC

Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer, Google

Patricia "Patti" Poppe, Chief Executive Officer, PG&E

Deirdre Quinn, Co-Founder & CEO, Lafayette 148 New York

Daniel Ramot, Co-Founder & CEO, Via

Scott H. Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty LLC

Christiana Riley, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsche Bank Americas

Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation

Michael Roberts, President & CEO, HSBC Bank USA

James D. Robinson, III, Co-Founder & General Partner, RRE Ventures

James A. Rosenthal, Chief Executive Officer, BlueVoyant

Michael I. Roth, Chairman & CEO, Interpublic Group

Steven Roth, Chairman & CEO, Vornado Realty Trust

Steven Rubenstein, President, Rubenstein Communications, Inc.

William C. Rudin, Co-Chairman & CEO, Rudin Management Company, Inc.

Kevin P. Ryan, Founder & CEO, AlleyCorp

Scott Salmirs, President & CEO, ABM Industries Inc.

Charles Scharf, President & CEO, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.

Ralph Schlosstein, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Evercore Partners Inc.

Michael Schmidtberger, Partner & Chair of the Executive Committee, Sidley Austin LLP

Alan D. Schnitzer, Chairman & CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.

Alan D. Schwartz, Executive Chairman, Guggenheim Partners, LLC

Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder, Blackstone

Frank J. Sciame, Chairman & CEO, Sciame Construction, LLC

Suzanne Shank, President & CEO, Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC

Tarek Sherif, Co-Founder & CEO, Medidata Solutions, Inc.

Stanley S. Shuman, Senior Advisor, Allen & Company LLC

Mike Sievert, Chief Executive Officer, T-Mobile US, Inc.

Jonathan Silvan, Chief Executive Officer, Global Strategy Group, LLC

Jacob Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Kroll

Joshua Silverman, Chief Executive Officer, Etsy, Inc.

David M. Solomon, Chairman & CEO, Goldman Sachs

Jeffrey M. Solomon, Chair & CEO, Cowen

Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer

John Stankey, Chief Executive Officer, AT&T

Robert K. Steel, Chairman, Perella Weinberg Partners

Alan Suna, Chief Executive Officer, Silvercup Studios

Steven R. Swartz, President & CEO, Hearst

Paul J. Taubman, Chairman & CEO, PJT Partners Inc.

Owen D. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Boston Properties

Jonathan Tisch, Chairman & CEO, Loews Hotels & Co.

Daniel R. Tishman, Vice Chairman, AECOM & Principal, Tishman Realty

Jean-Marie Tritant, Chief Executive Officer, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield

Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, Global Markets, IBM Corporation

Ellis Verdi, President, DeVito/Verdi

Philip Waterman III, Managing Partner, WatermanClark

Charles Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer, EisnerAmper LLP

David Winter, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Standard Industries Inc.

Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City

Rudolph M. Wynter, President-Elect, NY, National Grid

Tony Xu, Chief Executive Officer, DoorDash

Eric Yuan, Chief Executive Officer, Zoom

Strauss Zelnick, Partner, ZMC

John Zimmer, Co-Founder & President, Lyft, Inc.

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