Shaheen Announces Nearly $70M in Assistance Has Been Distributed to More than 5,500 NH Businesses Through Relief Program
**Shaheen Continues to Call for Oversight of Small Business Relief Programs to Make Sure that Help is Being Delivered to Businesses That are Truly Hurting**
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)— a senior member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship – announced today that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved $45,186,100 in loans and $23,907,000 in advances to more than 5,500 New Hampshire small businesses through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loan and emergency grant programs, respectively. The EIDL emergency grant program was created in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, of which Shaheen was a lead negotiator. In the most recent coronavirus response legislation, Shaheen insisted that the EIDL program be replenished to ensure New Hampshire businesses would have access to these critical dollars. The final legislation that passed Congress and was signed into law last week provided $50 billion for the EIDL program, which will allow the SBA to approve approximately $350 billion in loans. The legislation also included an additional $10 billion for the EIDL emergency grant program. The emergency grant program allows for expedited access to capital, with an advance of up to $10,000 on a loan to provide paid sick leave to employees, maintain payroll and other debt obligations. This advance does not have to be repaid.
“New Hampshire’s small businesses are in crisis and help can’t come fast enough,” said Shaheen. “This relief has been a lifeline for these Granite State businesses but much more work remains to make sure these, and our many other small businesses, can weather this crisis. That’s why I was adamant in recent negotiations that Congress provide additional funding for the EIDL program.”
Shaheen continued, “I continue to urge the Trump administration to fix persistent problems in the implementation of small business relief programs and Congress must provide stringent oversight. We need to make sure that help is quickly getting to small businesses that are truly hurting, as the law intended, and not being funneled to corporations that don’t need it or favored for larger businesses that have relationships with big banks.”
During negotiations of the most recent coronavirus response legislation, Senator Shaheen insisted that the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Program—both of which ran out of funding—be replenished. Earlier today, Senator Shaheen called for oversight hearings on the implementation of small business relief programs in the CARES Act as many small businesses continue to experience difficulties accessing the programs.
She has also called for changes that would allow for better access for smaller businesses, particularly businesses that don’t have a relationship with a big bank, to access the program, as well as additional funding for health care providers. Senator Shaheen continues to call for other changes to the PPP program to help New Hampshire’s small businesses, including extending key deadlines, and is urging that these fixes be included in further COVID-19 response legislation. To date, New Hampshire small businesses have received more than $2 billion through the PPP.
