Exclusive conference call provided Colorado small-business owners with the latest news from Congress
In an April 16 conference call arranged by NFIB exclusively for its Colorado members, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner apprised small-business owners of the latest efforts by Congress to address loan funding and other issues dealing with the coronavirus.
“There are three things that I am primarily looking through to filter and focus my efforts on the COVID-19 health emergency,” said Senator Gardner. “No 1. is making sure we’re addressing the health emergency itself, what we’re doing to flatten the curve and stop the spread. No. 2 is making sure we have real assistance for real people in real time. No. 3 is what we’re doing to make sure businesses are able to keep their payroll, keep people on board, keep the doors open through this, and then be able to snap back once our economy is back and running full force … They are not things you do one at a time … you have to do all three at the exact same time.”
Senator Gardner was emphatic about the importance of replenishing the Paycheck Protection Program. “That is now out of money and it’s a tragedy that we have gone through $350 billion. We’ve tried several times this week in the Senate to put an additional $250 billion into the fund. Sen. Schumer again objected to it today. The program … I hate to say this has been suspended because Sen. Schumer would not let the additional funds to go into the program … I’m going to fight tooth and nail to make sure we get additional money into the PPP. It’s already kept millions of employees in place, it’s kept hundreds of thousands of small businesses in a position to be able to come back from this, and we have to have this. We need to put politics aside, partisanship aside, and keep the jobs. That’s what we’re going to be dealing with tirelessly on every minute of the day and night until we get this funding put into it.”
NFIB Colorado State Director Tony Gagliardi then opened the call up to questions, and for the next 40 minutes, Senator Gardner gave answers, some guesses and a few speculations on issues concerning:
- Business reopening
- What’s being done with the $300 million earmarked for fisheries and aquaculture
- What’s being done for companies with just one employee
- Whom do complain to when you’re not getting any answers?
- Which is the forgivable part of the PPP, payroll tax payments or wages?
- Where unemployment insurance checks were being sent and would the program become so lucrative for employees that they would be disinclined to return to work.
Once again underscoring the importance of the PPP, Senator Gardner said, “We can’t stop this program. Millions of jobs have been saved. Million more need to be saved … There is no time we can compare this to in our lifetime … We’re going to get through this. We’re going to get through it by banding together.”
Click the arrow below to listen to the conference call with Sen. Cory Gardner.
