CEOs of JPMorgan, Walmart, Lowe’s And More Meet At White House

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was one of several executives to meet with President Joe Biden on Tuesday (Feb. 9) to discuss Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, The Washington Post writes.

Democrats are currently working to move the plan quickly through Congress.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, Gap CEO Sonia Syngal, Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison, and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were also in attendance, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

In spite of opposition from Republicans, the House has already rolled out key parts of the legislation and is expected this week to begin a long series of committee meetings to vote on certain parts of it. Later this month there’s expected to be a final House passage.

The business executives’ meeting comes as there’s increasing debate over the $15 per hour minimum wage, with Dimon and McMillon both saying they backed increasing the minimum wage. Despite that, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has said lawmakers shouldn’t use the pandemic to try and pass unrelated legislation like the minimum wage increase. The Chamber has also expressed concerns about the $1 trillion annual deficit, The Washington Post reports.

The meeting did involve talk about the proposed minimum wage increase, one source told the Post, though Biden reportedly said he didn’t think that issue would end up being in the bill.

The Chamber also opposed Biden’s resolution in the new stimulus package to raise the federal unemployment benefits from $300 to $400 per week, saying they thought it would distort the labor market and discourage people from returning to work, the Post reports.

Biden and Yellen had previously announced they’d be talking with the country’s business leaders. Yellen, who is a former Federal Reserve chair, has said the issue is of paramount importance as people and the economy as a whole need the relief.