Senator Reverend Warnock Leads Colleagues in Pushing Small Business Administrator To Help Small Businesses in Georgia, Nationwide

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) led a group of his colleagues in urging U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Isabel Guzman to extend the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) repayment deferment period for small businesses in Georgia and across the nation.

"I am deeply committed to making sure that Washington is doing all they can to help keep Georgia's economy strong and support small businesses that help give life to all of our communities," said Senator Reverend Warnock upon sending the new letter. "That's why I am urging the SBA to swiftly extend the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) repayment deferment period, which will help provide immediate relief and peace of mind to nearly 190,000 small businesses across our state."

SBA EIDLs are low-interest loans available to eligible small businesses. EIDLs provide eligible small businesses a loan up to $2 million, with a repayment term of up to 30 years. The loans can be used to pay for expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred, including payroll and other operating expenses. COVID-19-related EIDLs have an interest rate of 3.75% for businesses and 2.75% for nonprofits and initially had an automatic one-year deferment on repayment, but on March 16, 2021, the SBA announced that they would extend the deferment period for a second year.

"While there are many hopeful signs that the economy is improving, most small businesses are not yet in a position to benefit from the recovery due to their smaller profit margins, more limited inventories, lack of access to capital, and struggles to compete with larger corporate competitors for employees and supplies, particularly as we work to address supply chain delays," wrote the lawmakers. "The enterprises that turned to the Small Business Administration (SBA) during the pandemic include some of the most vulnerable businesses in our nation. Granting them additional time before having to pay back their loans would not only provide much-needed relief during this period of continued uncertainty, increased costs, and supply chain challenges, but also put them in a much better position to thrive once the economy is fully recovered," continued the lawmakers.

"When Congress funded the COVID EIDL program in 2020, it did so to ensure that small businesses would have access to the capital they needed to weather this pandemic and to ultimately come out of it stronger. After two turbulent years, we know the end is in sight, but small enterprises still need help. Congress has given you the authority to provide relief, and we ask that you recognize the continued uncertainty and struggles small businesses face today and use it now," the lawmakers concluded.

Nearly 190,000 Georgian small businesses have benefitted from EIDL loans. Extending the deferment acknowledges that these small businesses are operating in a perilous economic environment, due not only to the continuing health threat, but to large scale changes that had greatly altered our economy during the pandemic. With their slim profit margins, small businesses find it challenging to support debt even in the best of times. The letter was also signed by: Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Michael Bennet (D-CO), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Chris Coons (D-DE).

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