Letter to the Hon. Jovita Carranza, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration - Congressman Steven Horsford Demands Oversight and Accessibility of SBA Coronavirus Loan Program

Letter

Dear Administrator Carranza,

Thank you for your work assisting small businesses during these unprecedented times. We
appreciate the challenges posed by the magnitude of the crisis and the scale of the
Congressionally authorized response. We also know how hard you and your team are working to
address the issues confronted by many of our local small businesses.

We write to you about the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and the urgent need
for the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide a means for our constituents to check on
the status of their applications and for the SBA to keep Congress informed.

As you well know, the EIDL program has long been a vital lifeline for millions of small
businesses around the country in times of emergency. Thanks to the long-term repayment options
and flexible use of funds, EIDLs have been helpful for small businesses navigating their longterm financial future.

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, we have been heartened to hear that, with the additional
funding Congress has provided, SBA will now ensure that individuals left out of the first round
of funding will hold their original place in the queue and do not need to reapply. However, many
of our constituents who applied for this program have yet to hear about the status of their
application. In fact, many small businesses have been without meaningful information from the
SBA for weeks.

Additionally, the Washington Post reported that as many as 8,000 EIDL applicants may have had
their personal information -- including Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable
information -- inadvertently exposed. While the SBA notifying potentially exposed applicants
and offering a year of credit monitoring is a start, we believe the SBA must do more to ensure
data security for all SBA loan applicants. Furthermore, we believe SBA must assure Congress
the back-end components to EIDL, like server capacity and data integrity, are operating
effectively and efficiently.

In response to these concerns, and in order to inform Congressional oversight of the EIDL
program, especially as the SBA makes use of a new round of funding, we ask for your timely
response to the following requests:

1) Create an EIDL application queue: SBA has stated that it will not be opening the EIDL
program to additional applications until it has processed its existing backlog. This is an
unacceptable plan. While we understand the SBA's desire to clear the applications it
currently holds, refusing to accept new applications leave countless businesses still out in
the cold. Only by soliciting all applications can the SBA and Congress have a
comprehensive understanding of the demand by small businesses for this program and
then make the necessary decisions to address any gaps.

2) Provide EIDL applicants with an updated status of their applications: Many EIDL
applicants have waited weeks for a response from the SBA and are now facing the reality
they must plan their financial future in absence of SBA assistance. It is vital that SBA
provide these applicants with an update on the status of their application. The current
online portal does not provide meaningful information on the status of an application.
Provision of needed information -- including place in the queue and confirmation that all
necessary paperwork has been received -- can take the form of an automated email to all
applicants or an electronic portal for applicants to check their status; however, simply
deferring these applicants to the SBA Customer Service hotline is not an adequate
response to the millions of applicants without answers

3) Provide Congress with daily updates on EIDL processing: In order to effectively
exercise oversight over the SBA's processing of EIDL, it is critical that the agency
provide daily updates to Congress on how it is administering the program. The sporadic
and incomplete data thus far provided to Congress has been woefully insufficient, making
it impossible to conduct proper oversight and keep our constituents informed, Congress
needs regular, timely, and complete data from the SBA about pending and approved
applications, zip code-by-zip code and state-by-state breakdowns of funding, and a better
understanding of how SBA is ensuring its capacity is meeting demand for the program.

4) Communicate with Congress on the steps SBA is taking to ensure back-end
capacity: Amid regular reports of SBA's EIDL web-portal crashing, constituents waiting
hours to connect with SBA customer service representatives, and the recent news of the
inadvertent exposure of personally identifiable information, it is critical SBA routinely
brief Congress on the work it is doing to ensure the back-end integrity of the EIDL
program. We recognize the historic demand for this program, and we commend the SBA
for its work to meet the challenges this crisis poses. But we must work together to
address the ways in which SBA's back-end capacity has fallen short -- and that starts with
keeping Congress fully apprised of SBA's efforts. We request a briefing within the next
two weeks by SBA on the steps it is taking the address these concerns.

Thank you, again, for your work to assist small businesses amid this unprecedented public health
and economic crisis. We look forward to working together to ensure the effective administration
of the EIDL program in service to our constituents.

Given the urgency of these concerns, we request your response to these requests by May 8.