Congressional Black Caucus and NNPA Demand Stimulus
Inclusion
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA
Newswire Senior Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Congressional Democrats
reached an agreement with the Trump administration on an
interim coronavirus emergency relief package that provides
support and fixes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP),
as well as increased funding for emergency disaster loans
and grants, hospitals, health care providers and testing.
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), without consulting Democrats, had
initially tried to push through a bill that would have
increased funding for PPP without providing any critical
fixes to the program.
The GOP proposal would
have done nothing to aid the most vulnerable small
businesses and wouldn’t have provided any additional funding
to our health care system or testing.
Thanks to the efforts of
the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Democrats have secured
$60 billion in new Small Business Administration PPP funding
dedicated to small lenders and community-based financial
institutions.
They’ve also secured $50
billion for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)
program, which will allow approximately $300 billion in
loans to small businesses.
Additionally, in large
part because of the efforts of the CBC, Democrats have
secured $10 billion for the SBA’s Emergency Economic Injury
Grant program, $75 billion in emergency money for our health
system, and $25 billion to increase testing and contact
tracing capabilities.
The Senate passed the
legislation at the end of last week.
“While this bill does not
address all current needs of the coronavirus crisis, it is a
major improvement and will help millions of Americans and
our frontline workers,” Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), stated on
a conference call with the Black Press of America on
Tuesday, April 21.
“Under the leadership of
CBC Chair Karen Bass, the CBC has been on the frontlines,
and without us, there would be no one fighting for our
communities,” Beatty stated, adding that the CBC recognizes
that more needs to be done. They will continue fighting for
additional funding for working families and those who need
it most in the next coronavirus package.
“Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
made sure that there was a carve-out in this package for
small community banks and credit unions, which ensures that
there’s an opportunity for them to take care of their
customers,” stated Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
“The EIDL program will
benefit many small and African American businesses as we
move forward,” Meeks said.
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL)
said the Trump administration has “proven time and again
that we cannot trust them.”
Kelly said the CBC
continues to work to make sure that crucial data that
includes race is collected during testing and tracing of the
pandemic.
“Through this bill, we do
target hospitals in some of the most needed areas, and as we
focus on CARES part 2, we need data to make the best policy
decisions. Lives are at stake, so we need to act quickly,”
Kelly stated.
Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA)
said the CBC has always understood that black-owned and
other small businesses “are the backbone of America.”
“We have constantly worked
together to try and make things happen,” he stated.
“Under Karen Bass’
leadership, we all understood that the CBC was not going to
leave our constituents out. It’s not possible to conduct
business if people are not healthy and safe,” Evans stated.
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