A meeting of congress

The commercial cleaning industry has undoubtedly saved countless lives through its work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it's asking lawmakers for a little help.

Members of the industry, worth almost $50 billion, have been asking national lawmakers to give commercial cleaning businesses and their employees protections against the very problem they're fighting. But those requests have often fallen on deaf ears, reports Bloomberg Tax.

Josh Feinberg, president of the newly-formed Cleaning Coalition of America, tells Bloomberg that it has been frustrating to see essential frontline cleaning workers show up for worker without necessary protections or even an indication that those protections might be provided.

The Cleaning Coalition of America has hired a lobbying group to help plead its case and has held hundreds of meetings with congressional offices. It has also sought tax credits that it hopes will help cleaning companies offset their rising costs.

At least some legislation has been introduced. On May 29, bipartisan legislation was proposed that would give temporary tax credit to businesses so that they can be cleaned, disinfected and sanitized the way they need to be.

For more on Bloomberg's reporting of the situation, click here.