Political Quotes

“Madam President, shortly, we will be voting on whether or not to extend the Paycheck Protection Program, which has been hugely successful in helping our small businesses keep their employees. In Maine, three out of four small businesses have received $2.3 billion in forgivable loans. Most important, these loans have helped to sustain 250,000 jobs in the State of Maine and 50 million jobs nationwide. A bipartisan group of us--Senator Rubio, Senator Cardin, Senator Shaheen, and I--put this bipartisan program together in March. We added funding in April, and we extended it in June until August 8. The pandemic, unfortunately, is still forcing shutdowns and mitigation measures months later. Many of the small businesses that were sustained by their PPP loans are still unable to return to normal operations. Without more assistance, without being eligible for a second PPP loan, many of the hardest hit small businesses, including our restaurants, our gift shops, our hotels, and our B&Bs, will be forced to close their doors, and, worse yet, lay off their workers. That is why it is so important that we reach bipartisan agreement quickly to provide further assistance to small businesses and nonprofits that have been kept alive by their first PPP loan, that have been able to retain and pay their employees but now are still struggling to survive due to this persistent pandemic.…”