(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) today joined Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) and a bipartisan group of House Members in calling on Jovita Carranza, Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), to provide application status updates to small businesses who have applied for emergency disaster loans and grants through the agency.
“Small businesses in the Hudson Valley have waited for weeks on critically needed emergency disaster advances from the Small Business Administration, and the only thing they’ve gotten back from the agency is silence. We need to cut the government red tape and streamline this process so our small business owners can focus on keeping folks on the payroll and paying their bills,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.
The Emergency Economic Injury Grants (EEIG) and Disaster Loans (EIDL) programs were designed to provide an emergency advance of up to $10,000 to small businesses and private non-profits that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, within three days of an application. Small businesses have waited weeks to receive their initial emergency grants. According to local small business owners, the SBA has provided no information, guidance or application status updates to current applicants, claiming the agency cannot provide information on these critically needed loans and grants.
The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by the president last week, provides the SBA an additional $2.1 billion in administrative costs for the EIDL program, which should be used for website and application updates, and to provide more transparency and information during the application process.
Additional cosigners include: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Rep. Peter Welch, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Jennifer Wexton, Rep. Bill Foster, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. David Cicilline, Rep. Jim Cooper, Rep. James McGovern, Rep. Anna Eshoo, Rep. Albio Sires, Rep. Joe Courtney, Rep. Derek Kilmer, Rep. Stephen Lynch, and Rep. Andre Carson.
Read the letter here.
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