Sens. Coons, Klobuchar: Coronavirus package should expand vote-by-mail and early voting nationally

Yesterday, McConnell introduced the Republican stimulus plan without funding to protect our elections from the effects of coronavirus

Letter to Speaker Pelosi, Leaders McConnell, Schumer, and McCarthy calls on leaders to include the critical funding necessary for vote-by-mail ballots and early voting in the third appropriations bill to be considered by the Senate

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) wrote a letter to congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, and Kevin McCarthy, urging them to include funding to protect our elections in the final coronavirus stimulus package set to be considered by the Senate. Yesterday, McConnell introduced a Republican stimulus plan without funding critical for vote-by-mail ballots and early voting in the third appropriations bill to be considered by the Senate. As Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee and Ranking Member of the Rules Committee, respectively, Senators Coons and Klobuchar have leading responsibility for authorizing legislation and appropriating funds for elections.

“As Congress prepares additional legislation to protect the American people from COVID-19 and provide financial relief, we also must protect our elections. Americans are facing unprecedented disruptions to their daily lives, and we need to make sure that in the midst of this pandemic people do not lose their ability to vote,” Coons and Klobuchar wrote.

“Protecting the right to vote is critical – and we can’t let this crisis stop Americans from being heard at the ballot box. Americans cast ballots during the Civil War and after September 11, 2001. No matter the magnitude of the threat facing our country, the most fundamental part of our democracy – our elections – must go on.”

The full text of the letter can be found HERE and below:

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leaders Schumer, McConnell, and McCarthy:

As Congress prepares additional legislation to protect the American people from COVID-19 and provide financial relief, we also must protect our elections. Americans are facing unprecedented disruptions to their daily lives, and we need to make sure that in the midst of this pandemic people do not lose their ability to vote.

Officials in Louisiana, Georgia, Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky, and Connecticut announced that they will postpone their presidential primary elections, and election officials across the country have expressed concern regarding how this public health emergency will affect upcoming elections. We must take critical steps to ensure that states have the resources they need to address this threat head-on.

Medical professionals predict that in order to prevent the spread of the virus, we may need to continue to limit physical interaction for an extended period. Experts have said that development of a vaccine is still 12 to 18 months away, and our elections are fast approaching – fewer than eight months away. Time is of the essence to ensure our democracy is prepared to overcome the challenges brought on by this global pandemic. 

In light of the threats that this virus poses, every American should be able to cast a ballot by mail without excuse. That means states will have to scale their vote-by-mail processes in a way that hasn’t been done before. This will require the federal government to provide swift assistance to states so that they can begin to purchase the supplies and equipment necessary to ensure every American can safely vote in 2020. States will need funding to print, process, and receive millions of ballots by mail. They will also need to recruit and train new poll workers because older Americans – who usually step up and work the polls on Election Day – are most vulnerable to the virus.

In addition to these critical steps, we must ensure that states have the capacity to expand early in-person voting so that those who cannot mail a ballot do not face exposure to long lines and crowded polling places. We must also work with the United States Postal Service to ensure that every ballot postmarked on or before the election is counted. The faster we provide this assistance and begin to prepare, the greater the impact these efforts will have in November. Non-partisan election experts at the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Brennan Center have estimated that protecting the 2020 elections from COVID-19 will cost roughly $2 billion. When considered against a $1 trillion supplemental appropriation, funding for our elections would be just 0.2% of the overall relief package. 

This week, Democratic Senators have introduced the Natural Disaster and Emergency Ballot Act of 2020 to provide the resources necessary to ensure every American can vote in November. As Ranking Member of the Rules Committee and Ranking Member of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, we have leading responsibility for authorizing legislation and appropriating funds for elections, and we urge you to include this legislation in the relief package.

It is the role of states to administer elections, but it is also the role of the federal government to ensure states have the resources they need to effectively administer those elections and safeguard them against national threats. We are facing an unprecedented national emergency, and as Congress works to provide medical and economic relief to states, we must also help our election officials and voters.

Protecting the right to vote is critical – and we can’t let this crisis stop Americans from being heard at the ballot box. Americans cast ballots during the Civil War and after September 11, 2001. No matter the magnitude of the threat facing our country, the most fundamental part of our democracy – our elections – must go on.

Sincerely,

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Sen. Coons, Senate Small Business Committee Democrats release relief proposal to help small businesses address challenges from coronavirus outbreak

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and his Democratic colleagues on the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship today released a new relief proposal to help small businesses address public health-related challenges from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

In addition to Coons, the Democrats on the committee are Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Mazie Hirono (HI), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), and Jacky Rosen (Nev.).  The Democrats’ measure will be introduced when the Senate gavels into session this afternoon.

Click here to download a copy of the proposal; the full text follows:

COVID-19 RELIEF for Small Businesses Act of 2020

SENATE SMALL BUSINESS COMMITTEE DEMOCRATS

American small businesses are facing an unprecedented economic disruption due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, with reports of small businesses experiencing major difficulties.  Due to the nature of this economic disruption, the existing disaster recovery programs for small businesses are insufficient. Congress must find new, innovative ways to help our nation’s small businesses survive the coronavirus outbreak, and build resiliency for the future. 

Senate Small Business Committee Democrats propose the COVID-19 RELIEF for Small Businesses Act of 2020 to improve and leverage the tools available at the Small Business Administration (SBA) to support small businesses, and create new tools to address the unprecedented pressure that small businesses face, including waiving the disaster declaration requirements so that businesses in all states have immediate access to Economic Injury Disaster Loans.

Further, Senate Democrats support true small business relief through the tax code. These proposals are outside the scope of the Small Business Committee, but we look forward to working with the Finance Committee to ensure tax relief provides the most support possible to the small businesses that need it the most. Details on the proposals for the SBA are below.

Recovery Grants

The federal government has a duty to prevent any small business from falling through the cracks during this public health emergency. For small businesses that are denied an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), the bill would create a new grant program to award up to $50,000 to small businesses that meet the following criteria:

• have between two and 50 employees; and
• can demonstrate losses of at least 50 percent for a minimum of one month due to the outbreak.

The grants may be used to address any purpose that would have been allowable under the EIDL program, including:

• providing paid sick leave to employees unable to work due to the direct effect of the coronavirus (COVID–19);
• maintaining payroll to retain employees during business disruptions or substantial slowdowns;
• meeting increased costs to obtain materials unavailable from the applicant’s original source due to interrupted supply chains;
• making rent or mortgage payments; and
• repaying obligations that cannot be met due to revenue losses.

Small Business Debt Relief

Small businesses in industries heavily impacted by coronavirus—such as travel, tourism, and hospitality—are experiencing dramatic cash flow problems. SBA borrowers in the 7(a), 504, and microloan programs are disproportionately in industries likely to be hurt by this crisis. By volume, hotels and restaurants are by far the two largest industries represented. The government is ultimately responsible for guarantees on all of these loans, and has a vested interest in averting mass defaults. 

To provide immediate relief to small businesses with SBA-backed loans, the bill would:

• provide small businesses with relief from SBA loan payments, including principal, interest, and fees, for six months;
• encourage banks to provide further relief to small business borrowers by enabling to extend the duration of existing loans beyond existing limits; and
• enable small business lenders to assist more new and existing borrowers by providing a temporary extension on certain reporting requirements.

SBA Major Loan Programs

Unlike large companies, small businesses operate on narrow margins, which makes them more vulnerable to long economic disruptions. Every day, small businesses experiencing disrupted supply chains and mandatory closures for social distancing are losing money—inching toward going out of business.

To get capital to small businesses, the bill temporarily tailors SBA programs to:

• reduce the cost of capital by waiving the fees associated with 7(a) and 504 loans, for borrowers and lenders, for up to 18 months, including for Community Advantage Loans and Export Loans;
• provide a permanent fix to waive fees for veterans and their spouses on 7(a) Express Loans;
• expand the pool of available capital for small businesses by increasing the annual lending limit of the 7(a) loan program, SBA’s long-term loan program, from $30 billion to $80 billion for two years;
• raise the max loan amounts for 7(a) and 504 loans from $5 million to $10 million;
• incentivize lenders to make loans by increasing the guarantee up to 90% on 7(a) loans;
• enhance the 504 refinance program to reach more small businesses who need to refinance expensive fixed assets and lower their payments; and
• boost the microloan program with an additional $72 million in loans, increase how much each lender can loan from $6 million to $10 million, and give borrowers an extra two years to repay.

Direct Lending Program

In addition to leveraging existing SBA programs and the thousands of lending partners that deploy capital to small businesses, small businesses will need a flexible resource for accessing affordable capital to sustain operations, pay workers forced to stay home from work due to the illness, address supply chain interruptions, and other outbreak-related expenses.

This bill establishes a temporary direct loan program at SBA for small businesses located in a State or Territory with a confirmed or presumed positive case of COVID-19. The Business Stabilization Direct Loan Program would:

• provide small business owners capital to pay off or refinance existing debt, provide employee benefits, pay employee wages and related taxes, and acquire technological and other resources that enable continuity of operation;
• support $100B worth of zero interest, zero fee loans of up to $2.5 million each with 10-year terms and repayment deferred for the first year;
• inject money into the economy quickly by mandating that 20 percent of the proceeds be disbursed within 5 calendar days after approval; and
• forgive up to 50% of the loan after December 31, 2021 if the borrower has retained the same number of employees as when they received the loan.

Federal Contracting

The federal government must grant flexibility to small business federal contractors and expedite the contract award process so affected contractors can begin generating revenue. The bill would:

• extend contract performance time by 30 days to small businesses affected by COVID-19;
• require the Federal government to pay small business contractors and revise the delivery schedules, holding small contractors harmless for being unable to perform under a contract because of COVID-19;
• temporarily remove the requirement for contracting officers to conduct market research so that contracting officers may grant sole-source award contracts for small business programs, including the women-owned, HUBZone and service-disabled veteran-owned small business programs;
• increase total sole-source award contract values to $8 million for services and $10 million for manufacturing;
• exclude SBA’s socioeconomic programs, including the 8(a), women-owned, HUBZone and service-disabled veteran-owned programs toward the Office of Management and Budget’s annual category management goals; and
• have federal agencies promptly pay small business prime contractors and contractors with small business subcontractors within 15 days, notwithstanding any other provision of law or regulation, for the duration of the President invoking the Defense Production Act in response to COVID-19.

Entrepreneurial Development

SBA resource partners, including Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), and the SCORE program, provide vital mentorship, guidance and expertise to small businesses. These organizations will need to hire more staff to deal with the increasing number of small businesses that need their help to respond to COVID-19. The bill would:

• provide $18.75 million in additional funding to WBCs, roughly $150,000 per center;
• inject an additional $40 million into SBDCs;
• grant an additional $1 million to the SCORE program, which is primarily run by volunteer mentors; and
• direct SBA to create a Made in America list to help secure small business supply chains and promote small business manufacturing in the United States.

Community Advantage Program

We know that, in times of economic downturn or uncertainty, underserved markets often experience an even larger credit crunch.

To increase lending to underserved markets, the bill would:

• codify and make permanent the 7(a) Community Advantage program, which has proven successful at increasing lending to women, minorities and veterans by providing loans of up to $250,000 through mission lenders;
• expand the program’s geographic and demographic reach to cover women and minorities; and
• increase the amount of available capital by allowing the Administrator, at her discretion, to provide waivers for loans to go up to $350,000.

This legislation builds on lessons learned over the past nine years, creating guardrails for responsible growth and increasing oversight to mitigate risk.

Intermediary Lending Program

Responding to the economic impact of this public health crisis requires fast, flexible and targeted deployment of capital to the communities most affected. The bill would reinstate and make permanent the Intermediary Lending Program (ILP), which would give direct loans of up to $1.5 million to nonprofit lenders, who then lend to small businesses in their communities with loans of up to $200,000.

The program would:

• leverage the on-the-ground knowledge of nonprofit lenders to get capital to the communities and small businesses that need them most;
• increase the amount of capital available for small businesses in the most affected communities; and
• help manufacturing and high tech firms ramp up production by deferring principal and interest payments for up to 6 months.

Small Business Resiliency

After small businesses make it through this difficult period, the federal government must do all it can to ensure that they are more resilient and better prepared for the next economic disruption, whether it’s a natural disaster or a cyberattack on their business. The bill would:

• allow small businesses already approved for an EIDL to borrow an additional 20 percent beyond what they have been approved for to pay for business continuity and resilience improvements, including establishing telework capability and implementing off site record keeping, among other measures.

The provision is similar to rules in SBA’s physical disaster loan program that allow businesses to take out an additional 20 percent to pay for hazard mitigation to better withstand the next natural disaster.

Office of Emerging Markets

After the Great Recession, SBA created an office to bring “greater unity, focus and effectiveness to SBA’s efforts” to reignite economic opportunity for underserved, or emerging, markets. The office was unique, did great work, and was considered vital by stakeholders, however it is now vacant.

It is vital that the additional resources and tools provided to SBA be deployed in a strategic manner to ensure that SBA-backed capital is directed to the communities that struggle the most to access capital in the private markets.

The bill would create the Office of Emerging Markets within SBA to:

• create and implement strategies and programs that provide an integrated approach to the development of small business concerns in emerging markets;
• develop and recommend policies concerning the microloan program and any other access to capital program of the Administration;
• establish partnerships with those best positioned to advance the goal of improving the economic success of small business concerns in an emerging market; and
• review the efficacy and impact of the microloan program and any other access to capital program of the Administration, as it pertains to emerging markets.

Innovation Centers Program

Underserved communities have been left out of many of the economic gains that have occurred since the Great Recession. Many of these communities are now expected to be among the hardest hit by COVID-19. As our economy recovers from this pandemic, we must ensure that these communities are not left even further behind.

The bill would create the Innovation Centers Program within SBA to:

• support the creation and retention of dignified work that offers good salaries and pathways to prosperity;
• prioritize inclusivity in innovation to ensure that groups currently underrepresented in high-growth industries get the support they need to be successful;
• establish new entrepreneurship ecosystems by using HBCUs, MSIs, and community colleges, which are critical to reaching minority, low-income, and rural populations, to foster entrepreneurship in their communities; and
• enhance outcomes for underserved business owners by creating projects that will combine unique and intensive mentorship, networking, and sometimes funding opportunities to fill a gap in SBA’s current programming.

Small Business Innovation Research & Small Technology Transfer Research Programs

The Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Technology Transfer Research Program allow government agencies to partner with high-tech small businesses to conduct vital government research in areas, such as renewable energy, cybersecurity and biosciences. 

The bill would make the programs permanent, providing certainty that roughly $3.5 billion in seed capital continues to flow into local our communities annually, require civilian agencies to accelerate the timelines for awards to as close to 90 days as possible so small businesses are able to act quickly.

Trade

The State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) awards funds to be used to increase small business exporters and their sales in their state. Entities who have been awarded funds under the program in fiscal years 2018 or 2019 will struggle to use all of those funds before the deadline due to the impacts of COVID-19 on international trade and exports. Currently, unobligated funds cannot be carried over into the next fiscal year.

This bill would support small business trade and exporting by allowing states to carry over STEP funds from FY18 and FY19 into FY21 to ensure that they still have access to that money once normal business resumes.

Senators introduce bill to help American manufacturers during crisis

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Cory Gardner (R-Col.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.)  introduced the MEP Crisis Response Act of 2020, which would help Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers stay open during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

The MEP network provides manufacturers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico with resources to promote growth, expand capacity, and adapt to change. MEP centers, which are funded through public-private cost-sharing, are uniquely equipped to act as front-line resources during the current crisis and its aftermath. This is especially critical in the medical sector, where manufacturers of personal protective equipment, pharmaceutical products, and even intensive care tools like ventilators face severe capacity and supply chain challenges. As manufacturers cut costs during the COVID-19 crisis, MEP centers will lose both service fees and access to already-appropriated public matching funds. Many will be forced to close when the American economy needs their services most.

“This is an efficient, targeted investment that should be part of any large-scale crisis response,” said Senator Coons. “No one in the country has more boots-on-the-ground experience than MEP specialists when it comes to connecting small- and medium-sized manufacturers with the resources they need. Failing to leverage their expertise in this emergency would be an enormous missed opportunity.”

“The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program is an important resource for manufacturers throughout Colorado and across the country,” said Senator Gardner. “Colorado’s MEP, Manufacturer’s Edge, has built up dozens of relationships and provided critical insight for manufacturers over the years. All four corners of Colorado will benefit from their continued success and the relief contained in this bill will help strengthen our manufacturing base.”

“Manufacturing Extension Partnerships provide critical support for small and medium manufacturers. Investing in these MEP centers must be a central part of our efforts to backstop the economy, particularly at a time when we need to boost domestic manufacturing capabilities in critical areas like medical supplies,” Senator Kaine said.

“The coronavirus public health emergency is severely impacting businesses, which is why we need to ensure we are supporting Manufacturing Extension Partnerships to carry on their efforts to provide assistance to our local manufacturers. MEPs play an important role for American small- and medium- sized manufacturers, empowering them with the resources they need to produce innovative, cutting-edge products that drive our economy,” said Senator Shaheen, the lead Democrat of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, which provides funding for MEPs. “This legislation would help ensure MEPs are able to continue operating during this crisis and support the recovery effort. I’ll continue to fight to ensure businesses in New Hampshire and across the country have the tools they need to stay afloat as we confront this crisis together.”

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt our economy, it is absolutely essential that our small and medium-sized manufacturers are able to continue producing essential products like medical equipment and protective gear,” Senator Hassan said. “Waiving the cost sharing requirement and ensuring available capital for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership state centers will help ensure that manufacturers in New Hampshire and across the country can continue to receive valuable advice and support from industry experts to help their business thrive and to assist in recovery efforts.”

“Now more than ever, we need to expand services at MEPs like the Michigan Manufacturing and Technology Center to provide support for Michigan’s workers and our manufacturing sector,” said Senator Peters. “I’ve seen firsthand how MEPs help small and medium-sized manufacturers innovate and take their businesses to the next level. I’m proud to join this bipartisan effort to bolster these services for our manufacturers—and hopeful that we can get this passed quickly.”

The MEP Crisis Response Act exempts MEP centers from federal cost-sharing requirements for one year, allowing them to use their appropriated funding without charging for services the clients need but cannot afford. It also commits $146 million in additional public funds to make up for lost private funding and to give MEP centers the resources they need to fully engage with the recovery effort.

“Our nation’s manufacturing supply chains are being strained in ways never before witnessed,” said Dave Boulay, board chair of the American Small Manufacturers Coalition and president of the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center. “It is vital we simply get to work on the critical topics that small and mid-sized manufacturers need to rebound quickly and to prepare for a new normal. The MEP Crisis Response Act will ensure the MEP nationwide network works effectively to strengthen the companies and our supply chain.”

Buckley Brinkman, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity, said: “Increased funding and the suspension of cost-share requirements will enable the MEP National Network to quickly respond to manufacturers’ needs in these critical times – especially as we surge capacity to produce vital medical supplies.”

“MEP is ready and perfectly positioned to help manufacturers overcome natural disaster challenges such as COVID-19, hurricanes, [and] earthquakes,”  said Migdalia Rosado, Executive Director of the MEP Center in Puerto Rico “Our knowledge of supply chain, business continuity/resiliency, process improvement, and [workforce] development are weapons required to help and support the recovery process.”

“This need is IMMEDIATE,” said Dusty Cruise, CEO of Missouri Enterprise. “As more and more companies [cancel contracts during this crisis], our Center will not be able to match the required federal cost share very long. It is imperative that cost share be waived so we will be able to continue business to help the manufacturers get back to normal when this pandemic passes.”  

“This bill is very important to the MEP National Network and to our nation’s small and medium-sized manufacturers,” said Mike Coast, President of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center. “In Michigan, this one-time waiver of the cost share will allow our center to continue to work with SMMs to address issues to strengthen the supply chain around critical areas like cybersecurity, supplier scouting, evaluation of domestic sourcing and implementing advanced technologies around Industry 4.0.”

“Manufacturing, including Life Sciences, is ‘mission-critical’ to our ability to sustain and recover from the crisis that is being brought to us all […] COVID-19,” said John W. Kennedy, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. “The MEP National Network and the 300,000 Manufacturers in the USA stand ready to help lead us to recovery, but additional support will be required. The proposed bill […] is a solid first step that will pay significant benefits for our country.” 

Tiffany Stovall, CEO of Kansas Manufacturing Solutions, said: “Cost share relief and increased funding to the MEP program allows MEP Centers to continue to focus intently on building programming, and providing much needed hands-on relief services and guidance to manufacturers during the time they need us the most without worrying how we keep our centers operating.”

“This bill is critical to the business continuity of not only MEP Centers, but most importantly to U.S. manufacturers,” said Bill Donohue, President and Executive Director of GENEDGE Alliance. “The increase in funding will allow us to address the issue collectively as the MEP National Network. The bill enables Centers to continue to provide support […] throughout the course of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has highlighted obstacles for U.S. manufacturing, its supply chains, and beyond.” 

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[VIDEO] Sen. Coons on third phase of COVID-19 legislation: “We’re ready to work together to deliver a response.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined FOX News to discuss Congress’s next steps to provide relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I saw the $104 billion Families First Coronavirus supplemental bill go from an idea to a bill to being passed here in Congress to being signed by President Trump last night in record speed, and that’s getting out support for sick workers through paid sick leave, expanded unemployment insurance, support for Medicaid, support for students who are home from school and who rely on school lunches.” Senator Coons said.

“We’re going to need to provide several rounds of stimulus to sustain our economy and to make sure that we’ve got the resources for states and localities to respond, and for our public health system to be strong,” Senator Coons said. “I’m hearing from Delaware and from lots of fellow senators about just how hard this is hitting our families and our communities, and we’re ready to work together to deliver a response.”

Full audio available here. Full transcript available below.

Q: So how would you like to see the President, who has now tapped these emergency powers, use them?

Sen. Coons: Well Sandra, I’ve been hearing from folks up and down my home state of Delaware, public health officials, our governor’s office, our governor directly, as well as physicians and front line health care workers saying we are facing, as many other states are, a critical shortage of personal protective equipment – of masks, and of ventilators, and of other resources, test kits in particular. I hope that the president will work with us in Congress – we’ll provide the financial support, the appropriations, and he’ll provide the authority – and we will quickly ramp up U.S. based production of some of these critical issues. I’m on the Small Business Committee and just two weeks ago Chairman Rubio held a hearing about how our supply chain for both medical equipment and pharmaceutical components is critically reliant on China. Earlier in your broadcast you were showing how Wuhan, the province in China where this came from, or the city, is now showing no new infections. That’s encouraging because frankly we are critically reliant on China’s production for us to be able to respond to this crisis and going forward, Sandra, I think we should look hard at providing incentives to American manufacturers and small businesses to bring back to our country some of this critical manufacturing capacity. 

Q: Meanwhile, the numbers continue to go up here in New York City, one of the hardest hit areas in the country, cases doubling overnight. I want to read you a tweet from the President just a moment ago, Senator. He said, “We are going to win, sooner rather than later!” As you well know, Americans across this country are fearing what is next with all this. What do you say to them this morning to assure them that the government is going to get this and that we are going to come out of this better than we went into it?

Sen. Coons: Well, Sandra, I saw the $104 billion Families First Coronavirus supplemental bill go from an idea to a bill to being passed here in Congress to being signed by President Trump last night in record speed, and that’s getting out support for sick workers through paid sick leave, expanded unemployment insurance, support for Medicaid, support for students who are home from school and who rely on school lunches. We are now working very hard on a much bigger stimulus, as much as a trillion dollars. Majority Leader McConnell is going to release his text later today. I’ve been working with the Small Business Committee on a plan that would push a lot of liquidity out quickly to help vulnerable small businesses and encourage them to keep people on payroll so that families have got a floor underneath them. We’re going to need to provide several rounds of stimulus to sustain our economy and to make sure that we’ve got the resources for states and localities to respond, and for our public health system to be strong. I’m hearing from Delaware and from lots of fellow Senators about just how hard this is hitting our families and our communities, and we’re ready to work together to deliver a response.

Q: Senator, meanwhile this virus is making its way to Capitol Hill, now two members of Congress testing positive, Florida Republican Mario Díaz-Balart has tested positive for the coronavirus as well as Utah Democrat Ben McAdams. Here is the letter sent by the Capitol Attending Physician on that. Senator, it reads, “The Office of Attending Physician has identified the offices and locations that were found to be at risk and they have been treated by the Architect of the Capitol…Other instances where the affected Members may have briefly come into contact with other colleagues on the House Floor would be considered to be low risk exposures and no additional measures are required other than for them to report any illness should they become ill.”  What is your response to those two Members of Congress now testing positive, and where this all goes next for you and your colleagues?

Sen. Coons: Well Sandra, this raises a critical issue which is after 9/11 lots of work was done here to provide for Congress to meet and vote somewhere other than the Capitol in the event there were a successful attack on our Capitol, but they never came to agreement on emergency procedures that would allow the Senate or the House to vote remotely. That’s now being actively debated. I’ve reached out to the affected members of Congress and conveyed my concerns to them and their staff, but frankly the Capitol is almost empty right now. Almost all of my staff is working remotely, the rest of the Delaware Congressional Delegation staff is working remotely, we are practicing social distancing and many are sheltering in place and teleworking, but frankly we don’t have a provision that allows us to take up and pass some of the significant bills that provide support for families and workers and communities. We also need to pass, Sandra, a bill that would allow for vote by mail. I’ve introduced one yesterday, it’s being led by Senator Wyden. In the middle of the Civil War, in the middle of the second World War we were able to carry out elections and get ballots to our troops in the field and allow them to still vote. We just saw the Ohio primary delayed abruptly. We need to make sure we are making provisions and providing resources so that our elections at the state and federal level aren’t interrupted by this pandemic.

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[VIDEO] Sen. Coons details second coronavirus stimulus package; discusses impact on Delaware

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) delivered remarks on the Senate floor following the 90-8 passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in the Senate. Senator Coons noted the key provisions in the bill including free testing for COVID-19 for all Americans, strengthened food and unemployment assistance, increased funding to states for Medicaid, and the establishment of an Emergency Paid Leave Program for impacted workers.

“The folks at my state want to know that we here in Washington are going to put the partisan bickering aside, find answers and get resources out to deal with this significant public health emergency,” said Senator Coons. “We need to be reminded that exactly why people look to this federal government for prompt action and for significant resources is because they look for us to be able to make sure that we see all Americans and that we know that we are all in this together.”

Video and audio available here. 

Senator Coons’ remarks, as delivered, are below:

Mr. President, the Senate of the United States has just acted; has taken up and passed a roughly $104 billion package of assistance that is going out to American families, American workers, to our health care system, to our states and our communities. And I just wanted to take a few minutes and talk about this important step we’ve just taken and where we have to go next.

The Delawareans I’ve heard from today and this week, this month are worried. They’re anxious. They’ve been up all night. They are trying to figure out how they are going to care for their children who are home from school and need support, instruction, and education; how they are going to care for their parents who are vulnerable, elderly and sick and are concerned about our hospitals and our health care system and its capacity. They are anxious because their frontline workers, their first responders, their volunteer firefighters, nurses and orderlies who are exposed every day and concerned. They are just average citizens, asking, “how can I get a test, and where?”

I’ve heard from the presidents of our major universities, the head of our hospital system, our governor, my colleagues and our Congressional delegation. We have talked repeatedly to our Director of Public Health, our Secretary of Health and Human Services, and I have heard from business owners, large and small, who run everything from coffee shops and diners to restaurants and hotels in our state. There is a lot of anxiety and concern. The folks of my state want to know that we here in Washington are going to put the partisan bickering aside, find answers and get resources out to deal with this significant public health emergency. And so, I hope folks take some encouragement from today’s action. It passed 90-8. Very little, Mr. President, passes in this Senate 90-8. And I have very rarely seen a bill of this size, scope, and magnitude that goes from an idea to bill text to enactment in such a short period of time, but this moment demands it. 

Let me talk through also the priorities that are reflected in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act because the name reflects the priorities. Hubert Humphrey, who was a former leader in the United States in our political community and system, once said, “the moral test of our government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, children, those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly, and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the disabled.” And I’m pleased that the package just passed here in the Senate takes important strides to take care of exactly those folks. 

Children home from school who need support for learning remotely and those in particular who rely on school lunch programs for their one good, stable, healthy meal a day will be able to continue to get school lunches delivered, either through their schools or at home, there are significant resources in this bill for that. Those who are on the front lines of this crisis, the individuals who are cleaning offices and cleaning hospital rooms and cleaning Amtrak cars and public buses, those who are putting themselves directly at risk by cleaning the spaces we all count on for our society. Frontline workers, people who are in our first responder community, people who are working in our hospital emergency rooms – this provides support for them. And for anyone who is concerned about the cost of access to testing, this bill makes clear that testing for COVID-19, for this dreaded disease caused by the novel coronavirus, will have a test for free, including those without health insurance.

There are some big pieces in this bill I will briefly mention. Paid emergency leave for workers at companies below 500 employees for two weeks of sick leave and up to ten weeks of additional paid family and medical leave. We just had a disagreement over exactly how that’s going to get paid for and how it’s going to get compensated and on what timeline, and we are going to work out those details. My office’s website will have an accessible, readable summary of what’s in this bill up later tonight. The larger point was that we thought it essential that folks who we want to stay home but who may be living paycheck to paycheck know that they will get paid sick leave so they can stay home, and we can slow the spread of this disease. There’s also an increase in funds from the federal government to states for Medicaid because a lot of our states are going to see increased costs as folks move to Medicaid as the place, they get health care as they move to unemployment. $100 million in additional resources will go to the State of Delaware alone to provide support for those who may be newly dependent on Medicaid. And then last is an expansion of unemployment benefits, 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, including temporary unemployment caused because of COVID-19. There are more details to how this temporary unemployment insurance will work, but it will last longer and have a higher level of benefit and be more flexible than previous versions of federal unemployment insurance, and it’s being delivered in partnership with states. 

So that’s the biggest pieces of this bill. It’s just $104 billion. But the bill we are already hard at work on will be an order of magnitude greater, likely more than a trillion dollars. And if what we have seen in terms of anxiety and concern from families up and down my state and all over our country is any indication, we must take this up quickly and enact it. Small business owners who I have heard from today who want to keep employing the folks who work for them but have lost half their business, since our governor took the bold and necessary step of closing our restaurants and bars to all except drive-through and delivery service. That’s 10% of the folks who work in Delaware work in restaurants and hospitality. Folks who want to keep their people on payroll but have no work for them to do face a very hard choice, and we need to find ways that we can both defer the payments that are necessary for students, for homeowners, for businesses, those who have outstanding payments on SBA loans or on federally guaranteed mortgages or on bank loans where we can work out some way to provide temporary relief, and then individual payments that will help students, that will help heads of households, that will help individuals.

So, there is a lot of different pieces that are being debated and discussed here in the Senate. Support for Amtrak, a priority for me because I commute by Amtrak, and it is one of the biggest modes of transportation on the east coast. Support for the airline and hospitality industries because they employ hundreds of thousands of people and have seen their business drop off sharply. Support for long-term structural changes to how we provide access to health care, access to skills and training for our workforce, access to higher education. 

I have heard very concerning stories from the folks who lead some of the most important nonprofit and faith and educational institutions in my state, and they are looking to us for bold and decisive leadership. Last, we must not forget those on the margins of our society: people who are homeless, people who are incarcerated, people who are uninsured, people who are undocumented. If we want to make sure that we make our country safe, we need to practice not just good hygiene, not just social distancing, but we need to refrain from moral distancing. We need to remember the words of Hubert Humphrey, and we need to be reminded that exactly why people look to this federal government for prompt action and for significant resources is because they look for us to be able to make sure that we see all Americans and that we know that we are all in this together. Thank you, Mr. President.

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Coons, Klobuchar, Kaine, King introduce legislation to protect and strengthen young businesses across the country

WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and Angus King (I-Maine) introduced legislation to strengthen young businesses across the country. The New Business Preservation Act would create a new program at the Treasury Department that will partner with states to invest in promising new businesses alongside private investors in areas of the country that do not currently attract significant equity investment in new businesses. Special consideration will be given to businesses founded by women and persons of color, who face additional barriers in accessing investment capital.

“Critical to American job creation is the ability of Americans to translate an idea into a business. As our economy continues to suffer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we should be doing everything we can in Congress to support both existing and new businesses, so our economy can recover,” Senator Coons said. “I’m proud to work with Senator Klobuchar to introduce legislation that would create a program at the Treasury Department to pair innovative new business ideas with venture capital companies so we can turn those ideas into realities.”  

“New businesses are critically important – they create jobs and drive innovation in this country. They also need help weathering the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic,” Senator Klobuchar said. “This legislation will allow the Treasury Department to partner with states to ensure that the most promising new businesses across the country are given a lifeline in the form of an equity investment that will allow them to maintain operations and continue innovating. Congress must continue to work with small business owners, especially women and those who face barriers, to stimulate innovation and create jobs to move our country forward.”

“As we work to support businesses hurt by the coronavirus, we want to make sure that startups are not left behind,” Senator Kaine said. “These businesses have an important role to play to bolster our economy, but they are particularly at risk during the pandemic, especially if they are in cities and towns outside of startup hotspots. Our bill would provide critical support for them and help promote future job development.” 

“The coronavirus pandemic that is harming our economy could set back our innovative small businesses for years,” Senator King said. “Our legislation would help create opportunities for dynamic-forward thinking enterprises in parts of the country that are too often left behind. It’s a win-win that supports our economy and our communities.”

The economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to disproportionately harm new businesses, which tend to have less cash on hand and are often poorly positioned to weather a drop-off in customer demand and lender financing. Equity financing – which this program provides – is critical because it does not require repayment but instead represents a long-term investment in the business. A significant reduction in the number of new businesses in our economy would have a devastating impact on job openings since research has shown that these new businesses are the source of most new job creation.

The New Business Preservation Act is supported by the Progressive Policy Institute, Third Way, Small Business Majority, Center for American Entrepreneurship, Economic Innovation Group, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. 

The New Business Preservation Act would:

• Create a new program at the Treasury Department that will partner with states to invest alongside private venture capital companies in new businesses in areas of the country that do not currently attract significant equity investment in new businesses. 
• Special consideration is given to businesses created by women and persons of color, who face additional barriers in accessing investment capital.
• The program will be self-sustaining, with any returns on investment being reinvested in new businesses in future years.

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Here’s what’s in the second legislative package to address COVID-19

On March 18, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law. The legislation offers free testing for COVID-19, provides paid leave for many Americans, bolsters unemployment and nutrition aid programs, and more.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act includes:

• Free coronavirus testing for everyone who needs a test, including the uninsured;

• Paid emergency leave for many workers with both 2 weeks of paid sick leave and up to 10 weeks of additional paid family and medical leave;

• Assistance for states struggling to handle a surge in unemployment, an important first step to help affected workers;

• Strengthened food security initiatives, including SNAP, student meals, seniors’ nutrition, and food banks;

• Clear protections for frontline workers, including health care workers and other workers who are in contact with those who have been exposed or are responsible for cleaning at-risk places;

• Increased federal funds for Medicaid, as states face increased costs, which will provide $100 million to Delaware.

SFRC Dems raise alarm in new letter to Sec. Pompeo amid surge in reports of Americans stranded abroad by coronavirus

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and eight Democratic Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in sending a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raising serious concerns about Americans struggling to return home after being stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Requesting the Secretary immediately update Congress and step up efforts to assist Americans stuck in pandemic-affected countries, the senators’ letter follows a substantial increase in calls for help from constituents and concerned families who have reported they are unable to secure flights home to the U.S., and in some cases, have had difficulty contacting U.S. Embassies. 

“Providing support and assistance to Americans abroad and ensuring their safety and wellbeing are among the Department’s most fundamental responsibilities,” wrote the senators, citing particular concern with Americans in Honduras, Morocco, Peru, and Tunisia that have recently reported they are encountering major difficulties in obtaining support from U.S. Embassies and consulates. 

In addition to Senators Coons and Menendez, signing the letter were Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).

“Americans overseas should have full confidence that the State Department will support them when abroad and facilitate their efforts to return to the United States if they are seeking to evacuate from areas affected by COVID-19,” added the senators. With an increase in flight cutbacks and travel restrictions across the world in response to the coronavirus, a state department spokesperson reportedly told a reporter that Americans shouldn’t count on the U.S. government to get them home.

The senators asked Secretary Pompeo to provide a detailed description of all efforts he is currently taking to help facilitate the safe return of American citizens, including clarification on conflicting reports surrounding the State Department offering charter flights and existing travel advisories that don’t seem to account for the spread of coronavirus. They also requested the Department notify Congress immediately if additional resources or authorities are needed.

“We recognize these are extraordinary times for the nation and the world. Yet this crisis calls for creative measures. We look forward to an immediate briefing on all steps the Department is taking, including working with foreign governments, commercial airlines, U.S. military, and other agencies to ensure that every American can be safely returned home. If the Department needs additional tools or resources to facilitate these returns, we request you inform Congress immediately,” concluded the senators.

A copy of the letter can be found here and below.

Secretary Pompeo:

We write to express our urgent concern regarding the support being provided to American citizens overseas, including those seeking to return to the United States, as the spread of coronavirus continues to impose significant challenges for governments and communities worldwide. 

We are particularly concerned about an increasing number of reports that Americans and their family members have been unable to leave areas affected by COVID-19 and return home. In particular, Americans in Honduras, Morocco, Peru, and Tunisia, among other countries, have reported to our offices that they are encountering difficulties in obtaining support from U.S. Embassies and Consulates, including to arrange commercial flights home. In some cases, they are reporting that they are unable to establish contact with, or receive even basic information from, U.S. Embassy personnel. While we are aware that Department personnel around the world are under immense strain to meet the many demands related to COVID-19, the safety and health of American citizens, including facilitating returns to the United States, must remain paramount. 

To that end, we seek an immediate clarification regarding your current efforts to facilitate the return of Americans to the United States, whether by commercial airline flights, charter flights, or other means, as well as a detailed description of all efforts you are taking to provide support and guidance to Americans and their families who are either unable or choose not to return home during this crisis.

We also call on you to clarify the Department’s public communication regarding its efforts on behalf of Americans abroad. Recent statements by Department officials and press reports that it will not, as a matter of course, provide chartered flights home, have led to confusion among many Americans overseas. In addition, existing travel advisories do not seem to account for the spread of coronavirus, which is only adding to confusion among many Americans overseas.

Providing support and assistance to Americans abroad and ensuring their safety and wellbeing are among the Department’s most fundamental responsibilities. Americans overseas should have full confidence that the State Department will support them when abroad and facilitate their efforts to return to the United States if they are seeking to evacuate from areas affected by COVID-19. While we understand this is a rapidly evolving crisis, as Secretary, it is critical that you ensure that the Department is moving quickly and taking every possible step to address and respond to the needs of Americans affected by COVID-19 overseas.  

We recognize these are extraordinary times for the nation and the world. Yet this crisis calls for creative measures. We look forward to an immediate briefing on all steps the Department is taking, including working with foreign governments, commercial airlines, U.S. military, and other agencies to ensure that every American can be safely returned home. If the Department needs additional tools or resources to facilitate these returns, we request you inform Congress immediately. Every American should be confident that they have the full support of their government and of the Department, including those who are seeking support to return to the United States.

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Sen. Coons: “Pushing for things that will make a difference for small businesses and employers”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) joined Delaware’s Morning News with Peter MacArthur to discuss the federal government’s plan for economic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic in Delaware and nationally.  The bill Senator Coons discussed on air this morning passed the Senate this afternoon and will soon become law.

“Governor Carney has taken necessary and strong measures: closing all our schools for two weeks, urging people to not gather in large groups, and closing restaurants and bars for all but takeout or drive-through service,”Senator Coons said. “These are tough measures, but frankly what I’m hearing here in Washington, Peter, about the model for how quickly this may spread and how many Americans may be hospitalized – we need to take strong measures at this point.”

“There is a bill from the House that is likely going to be passed by the Senate today that will provide increased support for unemployment insurance, for food stamps, and for school lunch assistance for students who are home from school, and support for sick leave payments.

“We should be both recovering from this disease and investing in better, stronger, faster infrastructure. This disease has a mortality rate somewhere between one and two percent. If it had a mortality rate more like ten or twenty percent, something more like Ebola, we would be facing a catastrophic pandemic.”

Full audio available here. Full transcript available below.

Sen. Coons: Well, Peter, it was a conference call. We’re avoiding in person meetings at this point, and it was an opportunity for the whole Congressional delegation and our staff to hear from the Secretary of Health and Social Services and the Director of Public Health about the increase in the total number of cases, the results of recent testing, the need for further personal protective equipment-masks and gloves and so forth, and sort of where we are in terms of our hospital capacity and preparedness. Overall, it was encouraging, I’ll put it that way, the Christiana Care and DB both did their first drive-through testing of over 600 people, and there were just eight additional cases detected in Delaware. So while I am concerned about the 16 people who’ve tested positive in Delaware, so far most of them are recovering well, and the percentage of people who’ve been tested to the number of people who’ve tested positive remains relatively low. Governor Carney has taken necessary and strong measures: closing all our schools for two weeks, urging people to not gather in large groups, and closing restaurants and bars for all but takeout or drive-through service. These are tough measures, but frankly what I’m hearing here in Washington Peter, about the model for how quickly this may spread and how many Americans may be hospitalized, we need to take strong measures at this point.

Q: Flattening out the bump as they say. Senator let me ask you this, yesterday listening to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin talking about their plan to basically pump lots and lots of money into a struggling economy was mentioned the possibility of, this was thrown out there, thousand-dollar checks for Americans. Did you hear anything more about that during the course of the afternoon yesterday? 

Sen. Coons: I’ve met with several senators, or I should say I had calls with several senators, who are proposing different versions of this. Senator Bennet of Colorado is suggesting I think a bolder way to do that which is $2,500 per adult citizen for the next three months. One payment. If the economy remains flatter in recession which I think is likely, and coronavirus remains a challenge nationally, another $1,500. That’s one way to get money quickly, directly out to families impacted by this. I’m also pushing for things that will make a difference for small businesses and employers as well as making sure we are focused on delivering resources to our hospitals, physicians, people working in healthcare industries. There is a bill from the House that is likely going to be passed by the Senate today that will provide increased support for unemployment insurance, for food stamps, and for school lunch assistance for students who are home from school, and support for sick leave payments. We’re trying to work out the final details of this in a way that will allow as many small businesses as possible to get access to credit so that it can continue employing people. We are seeing very worrying signs across the whole economy. I heard from the head of AMTRAK yesterday about how their ridership has just plummeted and without some support, AMTRAK is going to start shutting down train lines, so that’s another thing we’re advocating for. I believe this morning, Peter, we will take up and pass the $100 billion package from the House that principally focuses on the health care system and families. And we will begin, we’re already well under way, the next package which will include some combination of support for workers and support that will go directly to both industries and to individuals across our country. 

Q: It’s very interesting that you bring up AMTRAK, Senator. Last week at this time they were talking about how they were maintaining many of their routes and just increasing sanitation and hygiene measures and such, and you talk about escalation of a situation where things have fallen off so quickly for them and that really mirrors a lot of what’s happening throughout many elements of our business world right now. 

Sen. Coons: That’s right. If you’re running a hotel, a restaurant, an airline, or commuter rail like SEPTA or AMTRAK, you’re seeing ridership or customers dropping off very quickly. One of the things I was urging was that AMTRAK, if they get the from the federal government, we’re fighting for, they use this time to keep the folks who work in our Bear and Wilmington shops, which are two of the largest AMTRAK facilities in the country, keep them working, doing maintenance and upgrades and repairs on the trains that are now sidelined. There are ways to keep people productively employed even as airline flights and regional rail and AMTRAK lines are not running. They have cancelled about a third of their operating trains up and down the Northeast Corridor in the country at this point, and we’re trying to put a floor under it so that they continue operating so people who need to travel can. 

Q: Let me ask you this, senator, this is actually a question we posted on our Facebook page this morning. We’ve heard the slogan if you will “the new normal” bandied about of late, and I’d be interested to get your impressions on that, and when I say that what I mean is, is this setting us up for every year or two down the road now? We come across another one of these superbugs for which from a medical perspective, we’re not really ready to handle. Is that the new normal, and if so, what does what we’re going through now set us up for better success now that we’re laying down a foundation for how to deal with these things? 

Sen. Coons: Well, Peter, it’s funny you should mention that. I had a conversation yesterday with one of the leaders in the federal agency called BARTA which is designated to exactly this challenge which is making sure that we are adequately prepared for the next pandemic. It was set up about 10 years ago. It funded three large centers, one in Maryland, one in North Carolina, one in Texas, to be able to do vaccine production quickly, and when a vaccine for coronavirus or for COVID-19 is developed the federal government will in part rely on those centers. There is a cutting edge advanced manufacturing institute at the University of Delaware called The National Institute for Innovation in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing that is already funded and is stood up and is leading national conversations around how to do better, faster, more innovative, more flexible manufacturing around both pharmaceuticals, the things that help us get better-antiretrovirals, and vaccines, the things that help us prevent pandemics. I have been fighting for more funding which is something that BARTA has requested in the last several budgets but then denied. We should be both recovering from this disease and investing in better, stronger, faster infrastructure. This disease has a mortality rate somewhere between one and two percent. If it had a mortality rate more like ten or twenty percent, something more like Ebola, we would be facing a catastrophic pandemic. And it is possible that a pandemic like that, much more like the 1918 Spanish Flu will at some point emerge because of the changes globally that climate change is causing in where and when animals migrate and how humans and animals are interacting. So the leading scientists in this field are advocating for more investment at the University of Delaware’s nationally leading cutting-edge center where all the major private sector players in this space are meeting regularly and doing cutting edge research. This is exactly the sort of area being prepared not just to respond promptly to this outbreak, but to the next one where I think folks expect the federal government to be looking over the horizon…  

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Sens. Coons, Cardin introduce $17B bill to relieve small business loan payments for 6 months

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee, introduced legislation that would ensure that every small business with a loan from the Small Business Administration, or SBA, would be relieved of their loan payments—including principal, interest, and fees—for the next six months. Senators Coons and Cardin are actively working to include this bill in the third legislative package currently being drafted to respond to the coronavirus. The Small Business Debt Relief Act of 2020 would be a lifeline for a wide range of American small businesses fighting for their survival over the coming months.

In addition to Senators Coons and Cardin, original cosponsors of the legislation include U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Angus King (I-Maine), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.).

“Small businesses in Delaware and across the country are already facing devastating impacts from the economic fallout of COVID-19,” said Senator Coons, a member of the Senate Small Business Committee and ranking member of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the SBA. “We have no time to waste to help small businesses and the millions of employees whose livelihoods are at stake right now.  The scale and speed of the federal government response will determine the future of independent restaurants, hotels, retailers, childcare centers, and so many other small businesses across the country.”

Senator Coons called for the Small Business Debt Relief Act to serve as part of a comprehensive relief package for small businesses. “While we must ensure that businesses that already hold government-backed loans get immediate relief, we also must reach the broader small business community. This bill would encourage new SBA loans by offering payment relief to borrowers that take out loans in the next six months. I’m also working with Senate Small Business Committee Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on fee waivers and increased guarantees to accelerate the availability of credit to a broad range of small businesses.”

“Our first priority during this unprecedented time is to make sure that existing SBA borrowers are supported to ensure that our country’s small businesses are not crippled by the time Main Street begins opening their doors again,” said National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders President & CEO, Tony Wilkinson. “With Senator Coons’ legislation, SBA borrowers will have one less- but very significant- expense that they will need to worry about during this stressful time.  Right now, small business borrowers all over the country are worried about how to make their monthly payment on their SBA loan, and Senator Coons’ thoughtful leadership will take some of that fear off the table.”

“The SBA Microloan Program provides the technical assistance and capital, including loans up to $50,000, that many minority, women, veteran and low-income entrepreneurs have difficulty accessing from traditional financial institutions, even during the best of economic times,” said Bob Rapoza, spokesperson for the Friends of the SBA Microloan Program. “We applaud the lifeline this legislation will provide to some of our nation’s smallest and hardest hit businesses that are experiencing the brunt of the COVID-19 crisis, including significant revenue shortages, supply chain issues, and inability to meet payroll, mortgages, rent and other building expenses.”

The Small Business Debt Relief Act would assist borrowers in three major SBA lending programs:

·       The 7(a) Loan Guarantee Program consists of $95 billion of outstanding loans. The two industries with the largest share of that volume are restaurants and hotels, which are among the hardest-hit by COVID-19. Child care centers, dental practices, and medical practices also rely heavily on the program. 

·       The 504 Certified Development Company loan guarantee program provides long-term fixed rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land, buildings, equipment, and machinery and microloan programs. The total of outstanding 504 loans is $26 billion.

·       The Microloan program provides loans of up to $50,000 to small businesses and nonprofit child care centers, via nonprofit intermediary lenders. The total of outstanding microloans is more than $560 million.

The bill would immediately support the approximately 320,000 small businesses across America that participate in SBA’s 7(a), 504, or microloan programs. The Small Business Debt Relief Act is also endorsed by the Friends of the SBA Microloan Program.

A copy of the full bill text can be found here.

A one-pager of the bill can be found here.

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