Speaker Pelosi, House Democrats leave town, fail the American people
By Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), Opinion Contributor — 10/05/20 03:30 PM EDT
Wheels up, off to California after adjourning the House until after Election Day. It’s a shameful display of partisanship in the wake of our recovery from the coronavirus. Rather than help small businesses continue to access unused funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is willing to block reasonable relief efforts, all in the name of politics. She doesn’t want to risk President Trump and congressional Republicans getting an ounce of credit in the final weeks of this election.
Some things are simply more important than political posturing, like ensuring American small businesses can weather the storm of the coronavirus pandemic. We have unspent funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, a COVID relief program that saved 51 million jobs in the United States, 2 million in Ohio alone. Its authorization is expiring, meaning the program is closing up shop, despite $138 billion left in the coffers. My Ohio colleague, Rep Steve Chabot, has a simple, straightforward bill that reauthorizes the unspent funds through the end of the year, expands the eligible entities and expenses, and further protects the program so that businesses with fewer than 300 employees can get to the front of the line.
We are on the right path toward economic recovery, with more than 10 million jobs created or brought back after the worst of the pandemic. But as states re-open at different paces, we still have businesses struggling to adjust and keep their doors open. Mom and pop stores, those with just a handful of employees are bearing the brunt of the economic damage. That’s why this PPP extension bill earmarks $25 billion for businesses with 10 or fewer employees and, if a business receives a second PPP loan, this bill ensures the total of those two loans cannot exceed $10 million.
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https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/519667-speaker-pelosi-house-democrats-leave-town-fail-the
