Shaheen, Hassan, Manchin, Collins, Warner, Cassidy, Murkowski, King & Romney Announce Bipartisan, Bicameral COVID-19 Emergency Relief Framework

**A senior member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Shaheen Once Again Helped Negotiate Provisions to Assist Small Businesses Impacted by the COVID-19 Crisis**

(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen – a senior member of the Senate Appropriations and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees – announced a new, bipartisan framework to provide emergency relief to communities impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, along with U.S. Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mark Warner (D-VA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Angus King (I-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT). The Senators were also joined by Representatives Gottheimer (D-NJ-5) and Tom Reed (R-NY-23) of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, which supports the new proposal that would help American students, families, businesses, workers, and health care providers during this crisis. A breakdown of the COVID-19 emergency relief framework can be found here.

To watch a recording of today’s press conference, please click here.

“Throughout New Hampshire – from small businesses struggling to make payroll to hospitals fighting to keep their doors open and beds available – I’m hearing from Granite Staters who cannot wait any longer. And they shouldn’t. Over a quarter of a million Americans have died from COVID and more than 13.5 million Americans have been afflicted with it. The human toll of this crisis is crushing – and that’s before we even address the severe economic fallout it created,” said Shaheen, who helped lead negotiations on the portions of the framework that would assist small businesses. “Some of those hardest hit have been our small businesses. When this body came together in March, we worked in good-faith to deliver the CARES Act that provided immediate relief through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. We put our heads together again and have come up with a new bipartisan framework to build on that progress to help small businesses get to the other side of this crisis, and to provide funds for state and local government governments, support for vaccine development and distribution, assistance for our schools and universities, and relief for our health care providers. But this is just step one. We need more leaders on both sides of the aisle to join us so we can finish what we’ve started and deliver the relief that Americans are calling for.”

“Granite Staters and our small businesses urgently need help,” Senator Hassan said. “Our bipartisan COVID-19 emergency relief framework includes the priorities that I have been hearing about and is the most viable package that Congress has put forward in months. Furthermore, as we head into the winter months, I have heard from countless businesses who are concerned that they will not last the season, making passing a relief package an essential part of our economic recovery. I am grateful to my colleagues from both parties for coming together on this bipartisan effort, and I will do everything that I can to get a deal across the finish line.”

Senator Shaheen helped lead negotiations on the small business relief programs that were established in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was signed into law in March, and includes the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP has been a lifeline for businesses and nonprofits in New Hampshire, with over $2.5 billion in assistance disbursed to more than 25,000 businesses across the state. Shaheen has called for the passage of the HEROES Small Business Lifeline Act, her legislation with Senators Cardin (D-MD), Schumer (D-NY) and Coons (D-DE) that would allow many small businesses to access a second round of Paycheck Protection Program loans. In recent weeks, Shaheen has been involved in the bipartisan talks that led to this proposal, of which she once again helped lead negotiations on portions of the bipartisan framework that would provide help to small businesses.