Lucille Roybal-Allard: “As we continue the fight to help our constituents and all Americans as they face the devastating coronavirus crisis, I…”

“As we continue the fight to help our constituents and all Americans as they face the devastating coronavirus crisis, I am voting today in strong support of H.R. 266, The Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act, to help protect American families, workers, and small businesses. Democrats successfully fought to improve today's interim emergency relief package by ensuring greater access for small businesses in underserved areas, and by successfully adding billions more in funding for testing, hospitals, and the PPE for health care workers who are caring for those infected by the coronavirus. For small businesses, this final agreement strengthens the Paycheck Protection Program with $310 billion in additional funding, more than the $250 billion initially requested. Democrats were able to set aside $60 billion to help unbanked and underserved businesses get access to PPP funding, including minority-owned businesses, urban and rural businesses, small ``mom-and-pop'' businesses, and smaller nonprofits. This $60 billion includes $30 billion for community-based lenders and small banks and credit unions, and another $30 billion for medium-sized banks and credit unions. The agreement also expands small business support beyond PPP by securing $50 billion for Small Business Administration disaster lending, which translates into more than $350 billion in loans, and $10 billion in SBA disaster grants.…”