By Jacob Wolinsky. Originally published at ValueWalk.
As Jobless Claims Skyrocket, Where’s Congress’ Urgency to Fix Broken SBA PPP?
SBA Loan Compromise Bill Lacks Key Ingredients: Transparency and Accountability
Q1 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. economy continues to collapse as over 4.4 million more Americans filed for unemployment benefits this week. With no end in sight to the health crisis, there should be no higher economic priority for Congress than ensuring small businesses get all the help they need as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Congress is preparing to make the same mistakes all over again that led thousands of legitimate small businesses into a brick wall of bureaucracy and rejection while large companies with immense resources and well-paid executives made off with multi-million-dollar forgivable SBA loans.
SBA PPP Loans Requests Loophole
The House is set to consider a new funding bill for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, already passed in the Senate, that once again does not include any new transparency requirements and would still allow big chains like Ruth’s Chris to suck up millions of dollars aimed at Mom-and-Pop operations across the country. Thanks to a special interest loophole in the CARES Act, SBA PPP loans requests for more than $1 million accounted for four percent of the applications, but made up nearly 45 percent of the approved spending. And at least 94 publicly-traded firms, some worth more than $100 million, received $365 million in taxpayer money.
“The horrific jobs situation is getting no better, and neither is the response from Washington,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. “Small businesses hanging by a thread were told help was on the way but far too many have been shoved aside by big companies with more assets than problems. At bare minimum, the next PPP bill should include rigorous oversight and transparency provisions — and ensure legitimate small business owners are able to easily access aid before more chain restaurants.”
BACKGROUND:
- POLITICO: Big restaurant chains get small business aid, sparking backlash
- Washington Post: White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry
- BuzzFeed: They Own More Than 1,000 Burger Kings. They May Apply For A Coronavirus Small Business Loan.
- Wall Street Journal (Opinion): PPP Loan Terms Amount to Legalized Fraud
- TrumpBailouts.org: Documenting The Trump Administration’s Bailout For Big Businesses During The COVID 19 Crisis
Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog group that exposes corruption across all levels of government.
The post Where’s congress’ urgency to fix broken SBA PPP? appeared first on ValueWalk.
Sign up for ValueWalk’s free newsletter here.
