Pub. 11 2021 Issue 1

24 www.azbankers.org Lights, Camera, Advocacy By Evan Sparks, Editor-in-Chief, ABA Banking Journal. This article was originally featured in the ABA Banking Journal. O N SATURDAY, APRIL 4, 2020, JIM RIENIETS STANDS IN A conference room at Nashville-based Insbank and looks at a video camera. “Members of our team are working diligently to access the Small Business Administration’s systems” to make Paycheck Protection Program loans, he says. “To get these funds distributed as quickly as everyone would like is akin to drinking water from the release of a hydroelectric dam.” The tone grows serious as Rieniets reminds viewers about Americans’ sacrifices in previous generations during wartime and economic depression. “COVID-19 is a war. We are fighting an opponent that is threatening our lives and our way of life. In that vein, I encourage everyone to understand that we all will need to make sacrifices and do things to help one another,” he says. How does this apply to PPP? “In the first few days, demand will overwhelm the system,” he warns. “I encourage businesses that have not already had to furlough employees to pause and allow those businesses that have had to close their doors to be the first recipients of these loans.” Rieniets grabs a package of toilet paper and hugs it to his chest. “You don’t want to be the guy or gal who’s buying or hoarding toilet paper when you have plenty in your closet already!” The blend of empathy, results-orientation and good humor on display characterize not just Rieniets’ response to COVID-19 but his whole career in Tennessee banking. “The Pandemic’s Still Here.” Rieniets is spending 2020-21 as chair of ABA’s Government Relations Council, working with ABA’s staff and board to develop the association’s advocacy priorities in a new environment with a Democratic presidency and Congress — albeit a Congress with slim partisan margins that can be expected to drive bipartisanship on major legislation. Top on the priority list is ongoing pandemic relief, including several provisions achieved in the December COVID-19 relief package — streamlined Paycheck Protection Program forgiveness among other PPP enhancements, the extension of important