She said a bailout that keeps airline workers employed would be cheaper for the government than putting them on the unemployment line during a pandemic.
American Airlines is expected to furlough about 19,000 workers, United says it will cut nearly 12,000, and several thousand more employees at smaller carriers have received layoff warnings.
Airlines have persuaded tens of thousands of employees to take early retirement or severance deals.
But even after those offers, the airlines have more pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and other workers than they need.
Late Tuesday, the Treasury Department said it completed loans to seven major airlines: American, United, Alaska, JetBlue, Frontier, Hawaiian and SkyWest.