Political Quotes

“I want to commend the Senator from Maryland, the ranking member on the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, for bringing this legislation forward this evening. I also want to commend my neighbor from New England, Senator Shaheen. Senator Cardin and Senator Shaheen, along with the chairman of the committee, Senator Rubio, and I crafted the Paycheck Protection Program that has literally been a lifeline to small businesses and their employees throughout this country. More than 4.8 million loans have been made under this program. These are forgivable loans. As long as the small business, the employer, uses the percentage that is established now at 60 percent in order to pay for his or her employees, then the loan, at the end of the day, is forgiven. This has made the difference between a small business shuttering its doors forever, laying off its employees permanently, and surviving this pandemic. Small businesses do not want to lay off their employees. Their employees are their family members, their friends, their neighbors. They are committed to them. They are committed to their communities. Through no fault of their own, the pandemic has led to government- issued orders that have closed businesses down or their customer base has simply dried up. As a result, these small businesses were facing extreme cashflow problems, with no liquidity, and were unable to keep their businesses going without the assistance from the PPP.…”