Dems Take Relief Money for Small Businesses Hostage

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday tried to add $250 billion to the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the part of the recently passed $2.2 trillion CARES Act that provides forgivable loans to small businesses. Following higher-than-expected demand, less than a week after the PPP was instituted, only $98 billion remained. McConnell sought to pass simple and clean additional funding to the program via a two page bill. “We’re not talking about making any policy changes,” McConnell explained. “We’re literally changing the number $350 [billion] to $600 [billion].”

However, McConnell’s aim of getting unanimous consent to ensure that small businesses are able to obtain needed loans for payroll was scuttled by the Democrats. The reason? They want to load up any additional PPP spending with more funding and regulations to benefit their constituencies. Democrats want at least $45 billion in additional funding specifically delineated for “small community-based lenders” like “minority depository institutions, certified development corporations, [and] micro-lenders.” They’re calling for an additional $100 billion to healthcare workers, plus another $150 billion to states and localities to backfill tax revenue. And of course they want more money for food stamps while removing any work-requirements for the next two years.

As The Wall Street Journal editorial board notes, the additional demands are totally unnecessary. “PPP money is already going to banks large and small, through a network that includes any existing Small Business Administration lender and any federally insured bank or credit union,” the editors write.

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