Yesterday, the Senate passed a second Payment Protection Program (PPP) bill that will provide an additional $484 billion for small business aid, hospital funding and more testing for COVID-19.
Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), provided the following statement:
“We applaud the Senate for moving quickly to replenish the Payment Protection Program and to broaden participation by smaller financial institutions, such as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI). We thank allies in the House and Senate for their relentless efforts to break down barriers so that smaller businesses and minority businesses have a real shot at competing for a share of these dollars.
“Notwithstanding great strides forward in this deal, too many smaller enterprises will continue to be crowded out of this program without a focused and concerted effort by the Small Business Administration, rigorous oversight from Congress, and a resolve by the nation’s bank executives that still have thousands of these unprocessed applications in the queue. SBA needs to ensure that loans go to very small and minority enterprises and that CDFIs are truly included in dispensing these funds. If those are not the facts on the ground, then we are going to look back in a couple weeks and once again see smaller businesses, microbusinesses and minority businesses left in the dust and at the back of the line. And, we will not have the time to save many of them.
“The language in this bill is not enough. It expresses an intent but the reality is all up to the execution by the SBA Administrator, Congressional oversight and bank executives.”
