Government
Congress authorized $350 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program in its coronavirus rescue package that was passed two weeks ago. Any company with 500 employees or fewer can get a loan of up to $10 million and that loan will be forgiven as long as 75% of the money goes toward keeping employees on payroll. The loans are financed by the U.S. government, but are conducted through private sector banks. But over the first several days since enrollment in the PPP opened, there have been a lot of problems with people saying they cannot enroll. There were technical issues because of the crush of people trying to apply. But the banks also put up obstacles. One of the most common problems people reported was banks saying they couldn’t apply unless they already had a business account or a credit card with them, or both. So I spoke with Rep. Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the House Financial Services committee, who has been working with the Treasury department to try to fine tune the rollout of the program. McHenry is from North Carolina, a bank-heavy state. He was Republican leadership for several years in the House and moved over to a top committee spot when they became the House minority in 2018. There were two things McHenry said that are noteworthy. First, he said he thinks that there shouldn’t be a cap on how much the U.S. government can lend out to small businesses, an idea floated on Wednesday by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. It was noteworthy that McHenry agreed with Warren on this. The point would be to ease the anxiety of people who have had trouble getting access so far and worry they will be shut out all together. Already this week Congress is moving to add another $250 billion to the program, bringing it to a $600 billion total, but McHenry thinks that is not enough. And second, I asked McHenry to address the concerns of a number of people who told me they were not sure how to access the program. McHenry said that banks have a legal obligation to verify that loan applicants are not seeking loans with fraudulent credentials, and so he said if you have a business account with a bank, to go through them. If you don’t go through a bank where you have any account. And if you have neither or are having trouble with that approach, create an account with the bank you want to use so that they can verify your financial information. He said that the rollout has been uneven but that the next week will be improved, as will the week after that. --- I told you last week that the DC Dream Center was giving out 100 free hot meals a day in the Anacostia area of DC. That number is now up to 200 meals. I dropped by the Center over the weekend and dropped off a few items. They usually host a ton of programs at their facility just off Pennsylania Avenue on the other side of the Anacostia River, but they’ve shifted their work to feeding people who need it during this crisis. You can donate to their work HERE. And Pathways to Housing is helping people who are homeless to transition into housing to help them stabilize their lives and work toward getting employed if possible. The donation link for them is HERE. --- Outro Music: "That's the Way that the World Goes Round" by John Prine
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