Washington, D.C. – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) posted the following regarding the issues facing the Paycheck Protection Program and small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic:
Small businesses across America are facing collapse. But the program Congress created to help them stay afloat & keep workers on payroll has too little money and too much confusion. We need a new law to fix the program and eliminate the cap on total relief – immediately.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 8, 2020
Small business owners are panicked that there isn’t enough money to go around. Raising the cap is a start – but it won’t be enough. Every small business that qualifies should get the help they need, period. We should provide an absolute guarantee.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 8, 2020
And funding isn’t the only problem. Everyone except Trump knows the launch of the small business program – PPP – was a fiasco. Regulations were late, systems crashed, and people couldn’t do loan applications. @SBAgov & @USTreasury need to fix it.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 8, 2020
Congress also needs to dramatically simplify PPP so it actually works. Replace loans with grants to keep people on payroll, ensure that banks provide equal access to all borrowers – and do it NOW.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 8, 2020
If anyone has any doubts about what needs to be done, just ask some small business owners. Millions of them have been put through hell over the past two weeks as they scrambled to try to get access to the money they desperately need.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 8, 2020
Congress, @USTreasury, & @SBAgov must speak with one voice to tell small businesses that if they’re eligible they’ll get assistance, period. Tell people we won’t let PPP run out of money and we will fully fund all applications – immediately & until this crisis ends.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) April 8, 2020
###