House Passes Emergency Coronavirus Package with Delgado-Backed Provision Expanding Disaster Loans and Grants to Small Farmers

Press Release

Today, U.S. Representative Antonio Delgado (NY-19) released the following statement following his vote to pass bipartisan emergency legislation to support small business relief programs. This legislation includes funding for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) programs, funding for hospitals and rural health centers and funding for a national testing strategy. The bill passed today also includes an important clarification that will allow small farmers access to the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Grants. Rep. Delgado led 86 members on both sides of the aisle in calling for this change to include small farmers.

"Today, I voted, along with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, to provide increased emergency relief for our farmers, small businesses, and hospitals, as well as address the urgent need to increase our testing capacity. This legislation enables more small businesses and farmers to access the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL)--both of which are critical to sustaining our upstate local economy. Importantly, the legislation includes critical guardrails that will make sure funding and support through PPP reaches our rural and underbanked communities who need it most." Rep. Delgado continued, "This bill also clarifies that our small farms are small businesses and ought to have access to the EIDL program. There is much more work ahead, including ensuring we provide state and local funding in support of our counties and municipalities doing critical work to provide services across our communities here in upstate New York."

"Today's changes to PPP and the EIDL program are critical steps for removing the obstacles dairy producers and other farmers face when trying to access COVID-19 small-business support. We are especially pleased that Congress made clear that farmers are eligible for disaster loans through the EIDL program, and thank Congressman Delgado for leading a bipartisan effort to secure these changes. We look forward to continuing to work with him to provide New York's dairy farmers the support they need during the pandemic and beyond," said Jim Mulhern, President and CEO, National Milk Producers Federation

This is the fourth piece of legislation Congress has passed over the last few months to address the coronavirus public health emergency. Most recently, the House passed the bipartisan CARES Act, a comprehensive legislative package to support the American response to COVID-19 with funding for health care, small businesses, testing and more. Today's legislation will add $310 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, with $60 billon set aside for community-based lending institutions, $50 billion for economic injury disaster loans (EIDL), $10 billion for the EIDL emergency grants, $75 billion for hospitals, $25 billion to increase testing capacity, $600 million for community health centers and federally qualified health centers, as well as $225 million for rural health clinics.

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