Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed Democrats Thursday as they continue to hold out on a deal to extend an additional $251 billion for emergency small business loans.
Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, lamented that there has been “no progress” toward a solution as the unemployment numbers continue to climb.
“Even now, Senate Democrats are still blocking funding. Every Senate Republican was ready to act today, but Democrats would not let us reopen the program,” Mr. McConnell said. “This should be above politics.”
According to the Labor Department, there’s been a total of about 22 million jobs lost due to the coronavirus outbreak over the past month.
The $2.2 trillion economic package that Congress passed in March allocated about $350 billion in loans that businesses with fewer than 500 employees are eligible to apply for. The “Paycheck Protection Program,” or PPP, was designed to help businesses make payroll payments for eight weeks.
As of Thursday morning, the Small Business Association’s website was unable to process new loan requests.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the Democrats’ push for a more robust deal.
“It’s not that we don’t share the values of small businesses, we do, we have been their champions,” she told reporters on a conference call. “But in order for them to succeed, people have to be well, people need to be safe, and we need to have state and local [funding].”
Senate Republicans attempted to pass an additional $250 billion last Thursday, but they were blocked by Senate Democrats that wanted to take the opportunity to fix problems in the program.
In addition to the $250 billion, Democratic leadership wanted $125 billion for financial institutions that serve low-income communities, $100 billion more for health care institutions, $150 billion for state and local governments, and a 15% increase in food security benefits. Their proposal was blocked, in turn, by the Republicans.
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