Carbajal statement on depletion of loan funding for small businesses

Statement

In response to the announcement that the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs have run out of funding, Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA-24) released the following statement:

"Congress must immediately appropriate more funding for Small Business Administration loan programs to help small businesses on the Central Coast and across our nation. We also still need to do more for our local governments and health workers who need resources and support as they work on the front lines each day. These priorities go hand-in-hand--we can do both at once.

"This is a pandemic and we cannot waste any more time on partisan politics. In this time of crisis, Congress must come together and continue to support our local businesses, our hospitals, our communities, local governments and our frontline workers. We need action now."

Today also, Carbajal joined a bipartisan group of 100 colleagues in urging the SBA to work with lawmakers to quickly address the issues facing EIDL, and expressing the support of Congress to further fund the program.

Background:

House and Senate Democrats proposed a package to address the concerns of small businesses, hospitals and communities across the nation. This interim funding proposal has bipartisan support from leaders across the nation. Democrats are calling for congressional unity to move these provisions forward:

-$250 billion in assistance to small businesses, with $125 billion channeled through community-based financial institutions that serve farmers, family, women, minority and veteran-owned small businesses and nonprofits in rural, tribal, suburban and urban communities across our country, and improvements to ensure all eligible small businesses can access this critical funding and are not turned away by banks;
-$100 billion for hospitals, community health centers and health systems, providing desperately needed resources to the frontlines of this crisis, including production and distribution of national rapid testing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); $150 billion for state and local governments to manage this crisis and mitigate lost revenue, doubling down on the investment secured in the CARES Act;
-Strong additional support for families with a 15 percent increase to the maximum SNAP benefit to help put food on the table.

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