Extending the Authority for Commitments for the Paycheck Protection Program

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am really pleased to be here to join the ranking member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Senator Cardin; Democratic Leader Schumer; Senator Coons, who is also a member of the Small Business Committee; and Senator Collins, who worked so hard with the negotiating team to put in place the Paycheck Protection Program.

I am pleased because we have an agreement to extend the expiration date to August 8. I came here thinking that we would not be able to get agreement, so I am glad that Senator Scott was willing to work with us as we try and get not just an extension--because we need an extension of that first round, and that is what tonight does, but we also need another round of PPP.

This has, by far, been the largest business relief effort in our Nation's history--for small businesses, anyway. I am hearing now from so many small businesses in New Hampshire. Those that have used the PPP program effectively have kept their workers on the payroll; they have paid their rent; and they are beginning to open back up again. But that funding is about to run out, and they need more assistance as our economy reopens--particularly those mom-and-pop businesses with very few employees.

In New Hampshire, the tourism and hospitality industries, which have been the first to close and are going to be the last to reopen, are just vital to New Hampshire's economy. And New Hampshire restaurants account for nearly 70,000 jobs, with $3 billion in sales, and hotels represent another 29,000 jobs and $1 billion in wages and salaries.

I have heard from small businesses like LaBelle Winery, which is a beautiful winery, conference, and wedding venue in Southern New Hampshire. It has 100 employees. It is fighting to survive. The owners of LaBelle Winery have put in two decades of work, yet all of their events are canceling for the summer and fall. They have spent their first round of PPP. They are operating now at just a fraction of their capacity. Before the pandemic, this was a thriving business with expansion plans for opening an inn and a second restaurant. Now, if they don't get that second round, they are in real trouble.

Colby Hill Inn and The Grazing Room restaurant, which is in the only Henniker on Earth--Henniker, NH--is about to lose 65 percent of its revenues this year. The revenue from their high-end restaurant isn't even covering payroll or food costs. They had 95 percent of all of their events cancel this year.

The life savings of Bruce, the owner, and his husband Jeff are in this inn, and if they lose their business, they not only lose their business; they lose their home. If they don't get a second round, if they can't apply for that second round, they may not still be here.

So I am really pleased we have gotten this extension tonight. That is progress. But we need a second round.

There is $130 billion left in the Paycheck Protection Program. We need to help those small businesses that need additional assistance.

I am pleased that we are working in a bipartisan fashion to try and get a bill. We have a bill that Senators Cardin, Coons, and I introduced. Now we are working with Senator Rubio, chairman of the committee, and Senator Collins, who was part of that four-person negotiating team. I am hopeful and cautiously optimistic that, if we work together, we will be able to agree--Republicans and Democrats--on what should be in that second round.

The challenge, then, is to get another package of assistance not just for America's small businesses but for all of the people who have taken such a hit as a result of this global pandemic. Over 128,000 Americans, 339 Granite Staters, have lost their lives.

New Hampshire has an unemployment rate that, before the pandemic, was under 3 percent, and it is now 14.5 percent. We have to help those small businesses get through this period, and I am hopeful that, working together, we can do that. We can get another package of legislation, and we can say to Americans again that help is on the way.

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