Letter to Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Jovita Carranza, Administrator of the Small Business Administration - Davids Calls on Treasury Department, Small Business Administration to Ensure Small Businesses Can Receive Relief Quickly, Efficiently

Letter

Dear Secretary Mnuchin and Administrator Carranza,

I write to you today about the crucial provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic
Security (CARES) Act and their implementation. Small businesses across the country, especially
in the Kansas Third District, are suffering from necessary public health measures put in place to
combat the coronavirus outbreak. The CARES Act provides desperately needed resources for
affected small businesses, which must be implemented immediately and without government red
tape. Failing to do so will have enormous consequences.

The CARES Act provided $20 million to the Small Business Administration (SBA) expressly to
administer critically needed disaster loans. It also enacted needed changes to SBA loan programs
to expand eligibility and provide a lifeline to small businesses struggling to keep their doors open.
I recognize that this will mean exponential growth in demand of SBA resources and assistance,
but it is imperative that these programs function smoothly and efficiently in a time of national
crisis. The CARES Act includes $675 million for SBA salaries and expenses to ensure that the
agency is capable of handling a dramatic increase in demand for its services.

As these laws are implemented, I am very concerned about SBA and lending partners having the
resources they need to properly respond to the urgent requests from our small businesses. I ask
that you provide answers to the following questions about ongoing implementation of these laws
and anticipated challenges.

1. How is SBA preparing to rapidly expand its capacity to release Economic Injury Disaster
Loans (EIDL)?
2. What logistical problems has the EIDL program experienced already, and how are those
issues being mitigated as the CARES Act expands eligibility for those loans?
3. How are 7(a) lending partners being prepared to accommodate enormous increases in
demand through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)?
4. Tribal entities with fewer than 500 employees are among the groups not typically eligible
for 7(a) loans that the PPP has expanded eligibility to for these extraordinary
circumstances. How are lending partners being prepared to accommodate these new
borrowers?
5. How are verification requirements being adjusted to expedite loan approvals while also
preventing fraud and abuse?
6. What future issues do you foresee with the expansion of these programs?

Thank you for your consideration of these important questions. I understand the difficulty of
expanding these programs on a short timetable, but a clear and efficient rollout of these changes is
vital to the health of our local economies. These programs are an invaluable resource to small
business across the country in a time of great need, and I look forward to working with you to
provide for them in this crisis.

My Warmest Regards,

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