TELL HOUSE TO EXPAND PPP

Dear John,

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a $483.4 billion new round of Covid-19 relief aimed at replenishing the Paycheck Protection Program, increase testing capabilities and add additional aide to hospitals and increase testing capabilities.

As passed by the Senate, the package provides:

• An additional $310 billion to the currently depleted Paycheck Protection Program (PPP),
• Another $60 million to emergency grant and loan programs for small businesses,
• $75 billion to allow hospitals to help treat COVID-19 patients and address drops in revenue,
• and $25 billion for states to increase testing capabilities. The House is expected to return to Capitol Hill on Thursday to vote on the bill and send it to the president to sign.

The House is expected to approve the measure on Thursday. Please sign this letter or call your Representative to request they pass this additional relief for small business, while making sure they know that this will not be enough.

It is clear that even this additional funding for PPP will be insufficient, with banks already warning they will not have the capacity to fund all the requests already on file. Despite that, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is saying he expects this will be the final allocation of funding for the PPP.

Please sign this letter to Tell the House to Expand PPP

But beyond the funding questions, there remain issues with the execution of PPP as well as other concerns that remain unaddressed.

Highlighted below are the areas in the SAVE OUR ECONOMY campaign organized by the American Sustainable Business Council, the American Independent Business Alliance and other business organizations where additional action is necessary:

1. Implement a comprehensive healthcare strategy IMMEDIATELY that includes widespread testing along with other necessary medical protocols so that businesses can re-open safely and as soon as possible.
2. Fund the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advance NOW!
3. Implement the new unemployment benefits NOW!
4. Expand and Modify the CARES Act Payroll Protection Program (PPP)
   • Increase by at least $250 Billion
   • Make the origination date of a PPP loan be the first day that small businesses can legally fully open.
   • Expand to maximum payroll loan amounts to three months after businesses can legally fully open.
   • Provide support for new and smaller businesses in applying NOW! 
5. Action is needed to meet the needs of 1099 and gig workers.
6. Action is needed to provide support for people of color, immigrants, and low-income communities and business owners hard hit by the Pandemic
7. Action is necessary to ensure the resilience of the small-scale and mid-sized farmers, fishers, and ranchers that feed our communities and provide the goods on which many local businesses depend.

Please sign this letter to Tell the House to Expand PPP

So, in addition to writing or calling the House, please also sign on to send these seven demands to all 535 members of Congress and the President and Vice President and tell them their work is far from finished.  And please share these with your networks as well.

Sincerely,