Executive Session

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, last week, I traveled around the great State of Indiana on my RESTART tour.

I visited small businesses up and down the State--eight cities, in fact--where we have seen so many Hoosiers adversely impacted by this pandemic. Like many other States, Indiana is starting to open up our economy, and I know so many Hoosiers welcome that. Our Governor, Eric Holcomb, has been implementing a five-stage plan for safely reopening Indiana's economy.

The cities on my tour have businesses that are in various stages of reopening. Restaurants like Catablu Grille in Fort Wayne, Arni's in Lafayette, and Woody's Library in Carmel are open at 50-percent capacity right now. The nonprofit Terre Haute Children's Museum remains closed, unfortunately, and is struggling to pay its employees. I visited Zimmer Biomet Hibbard, which is a medical device company in Valparaiso. I enjoyed the tour and visiting with the employees, but I discovered that its sales had dropped 95 percent in March. Fortunately, it received a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and that enabled it to keep all 23 of its employees on the payroll.

It is clear that we need to continue evaluating additional relief measures for small businesses and Indiana's nonprofits. My RESTART Act is a viable approach to help keep our hardest hit businesses and nonprofits going. The RESTART Act is a bipartisan measure I introduced with Senator Bennet. The effort here is to build upon the success of the Paycheck Protection Program. We have seen that more than 74,000 Hoosier businesses have benefited from PPP, with loans totaling nearly $9.4 billion in the State of Indiana. Just for context, that is an average loan of about $130,000. These are for small businesses like those that we see up and down our State.

The Paycheck Protection Program requires funds to be spent in just 8 weeks, but most restaurants, gyms, boutiques, and so many other businesses were not permitted to be open during part or all of that 8- week period. So the first part of the RESTART Act merely extends the timeframe to 16 weeks for our Nation's hardest hit businesses.

Secondly, we know that the PPP was meant to be a bridge to reopening the economy, but many small businesses have much longer bridges to cross. That is why our new RESTART Program would provide loans that would cover up to 6 months of payroll and fixed operating expenses. That is just for those businesses that have taken a substantial revenue hit during this coronavirus pandemic. My RESTART initiative would provide needed funds with the flexibility for employers to pay bills and to implement social distancing measures, like with those Plexiglas dividers I have seen at so many businesses. Most importantly, it would bring employees back to work, which is exactly where they want to be.

Over the last several weeks, I have spoken to more than 22,000 Hoosiers by using Zoom teleconferencing capabilities, having conference calls, and other means. I have to say I am truly inspired by the way Hoosiers have come together to help one another during this pandemic. Everyone has done his part. Hoosiers want to work, and business owners are eager to pay them.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source