Unanimous Consent Request

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I am pleased to be able to join my colleague Senator Cardin, who is the ranking member on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, as well as Minority Leader Schumer. I am pleased that the chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, Senator Rubio, is also here because Senator Cardin, Senator Rubio, Senator Collins, and I all worked on the Paycheck Protection Program and the small business provisions that are in the CARES package that we passed over 5 weeks ago. I am proud of our efforts to negotiate in a bipartisan way to help small businesses get through this crisis.

Not only did we pass, in that first CARES package, $350 billion to help small business, but just a couple of weeks ago, Congress also came together to pass an additional $370 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

Our intent in passing that legislation was to deliver relief to small businesses that are truly hurting. Small businesses are the lifeblood of this economy nationally, really, and certainly in New Hampshire, where 99 percent of our businesses are considered small businesses. They employ over 50 percent of the New Hampshire workforce.

In New Hampshire, 20,000 small businesses and nonprofits have received over $2.5 billion in low-interest, forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program. There have been challenges. We have heard some of those stories from small businesses that weren't able to access this assistance because some larger businesses got into the queue ahead of them--some of those large, publicly traded companies that had a relationship with their lender, and so they were able to get in early. We need information if we are going to correct the things that haven't been working about this program. That is why the legislation that Senator Cardin, Senator Schumer, and I are introducing, I think, would be so helpful.

The Trump administration and Congress need to be held accountable for implementation of these programs. In order to do that, we have to have oversight, as Senator Cardin said. Transparency is fundamental. We need to ensure that assistance is going to the small businesses and nonprofits that need it most.

Senator Cardin listed off a number of those companies: the women- owned companies, minority-owned companies. We also need to think about those businesses that have fewer than 10 employees--those mom-and-pop shops that really need help, that may not have as long a relationship with their lender or may not have any relationship with a lender.

All we are asking for today is a measure that would provide the bare minimum that this administration should provide to ensure that these programs are functioning as Congress intended.

This is commonsense legislation. All it would do is require the Small Business Administration to provide daily reporting on PPP and EIDL loans, to provide more detailed weekly reports on these programs, and to make this information publicly available, while at the same time protecting borrower and participant privacy.

We have heard the horror stories about problems with this program. There have also been a lot of success stories. But the public isn't going to know both sides of that unless there is reporting and transparency so that people know what is working and what is not working.

The bill would also ensure that PPP and EIDL funds are reaching underserved and underbanked borrowers. It would establish an early warning system for the SBA and for Congress so we can figure out how to respond to things that aren't working and when we are expecting an additional funding shortfall.

These proposals shouldn't be controversial. These are all things that I have heard people on both sides of the aisle talking about supporting. What they will do is allow Congress to perform our basic oversight responsibilities and foster public confidence in the integrity of these programs. And perhaps, most important, these improvements will help make sure that the limited resources that are available are getting to the small businesses that need them the most.

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