Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am so pleased to be able to join Leader Schumer and my colleague and ranking member of the small business committee, Senator Cardin. I am grateful for his leadership and for the partnership that we had back in March with Senators Rubio and Collins. It truly was a bipartisan partnership to try and address the challenges that small businesses are facing across this country.
In New Hampshire small businesses are our lifeblood. They were going under because of this pandemic, so the Paycheck Protection Program has been a lifesaver. But we know there are things that need to change about it in order for it to continue to help those businesses.
In New Hampshire we have 22,000 small businesses and nonprofits that have received over $2.5 billion in forgivable loans under the program.
But we have also heard from many of those businesses that there are improvements and fixes that are necessary, businesses like The Little Grille, a New Hampshire restaurant with locations in Littleton and Woodsville. They said that PPP has been a lifesaver. But they have only 2 weeks remaining on their forgivable term, and if the terms of the loan are not addressed, the owners of The Little Grille told us that they will be back in the same position they were at the start of the pandemic, and they may be forced to lay off staff.
We have heard from the Portsmouth Brewery, which received their PPP loan, and they want to rehire their 28 employees but they need more flexibility and extensions to the program to resume operations.
Then, of course, we have heard from Big Dave's Bagels & Deli in North Conway. His 32-year-old bakery was predominantly takeout before the pandemic, but he was able to keep his employees on and offer hazard pay because his approval for the PPP loan came through at the very end of April. Now he needs flexibility and loan terms if he is going to keep his employees on the payroll.
I could go on and on with example after example, but the important thing is, as Senators Schumer and Cardin have said so eloquently, those first loans are about to end, and if we don't do something to help those businesses, they are going to be back in the same place that they were in in March when the shelter-at-home and the stay-at-home orders began in New Hampshire and across this country.
So we need to do something. This legislation addresses the concerns that people have expressed. I think we also need to provide additional funding or additional help over the next month until things open back up in the economy.
But, in the short term, the legislation addresses the concerns that we have been hearing from small businesses, and I hope we are going to see our colleagues pass it by unanimous consent so that there is some certainty for those businesses as they try and open back up in this very difficult environment.
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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Will my colleague from Wisconsin yield for a question?
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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Do I understand that you think you will have some resolution of this by this afternoon, so you expect at that point to come back in with another UC request to pass this bill?
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Mrs. SHAHEEN. That is my understanding of the bill; it doesn't allow you to apply for the loan through December.
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