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WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz is calling for federal financial assistance to be made available to chambers of commerce, saying that the thousands of chambers around the U.S. will be critical in supporting businesses damaged by the coronavirus pandemic once the economy can re-open.
The recently-created Paycheck Protection Program provides loans and grants to small businesses struggling to stay afloat amid a nationwide shutdown to slow the spread of the virus, but local chambers of commerce are unable to apply for the fresh $310 billion Congress allocated to the program last week. The Texas Republican announced Thursday morning his intention to file a bill that would allow chambers to access those funds.
“As small businesses work to re-open their doors, they’ll need access to the resources and tools offered by U.S. Chambers of Commerce,” Cruz said in a statement. “Nearly half of small businesses in Texas are a member of their local chamber. They’ll be looking to their chambers for guidance and support as we work to jump start the economy and get people back to work. We simply cannot allow these Chambers to go under at a time when they’re needed most.”
Cruz’s announcement comes as the Senate prepares to return to Washington next week and Democratic and Republican lawmakers negotiate over a fourth massive spending bill to provide relief for a struggling economy. The PPP is of particular concern to Congress after the original $350 billion allocated to the program in March dried up in less than two weeks as businesses scrambled to get approval for the money.
Nearly 135,000 small businesses in Texas got the OK in the first batch, totaling nearly $28.5 billion, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. The number of loans in the Lone Star State was more than any other state, while only California saw a higher dollar amount.
Lawmakers are split over what the massive economic relief bill will include, but it’s expected to rival the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress last month. Democrats have floated priorities like hazard pay for essential workers, election reform and funding for state and local governments, while Republicans have voiced concerns about unnecessary spending the country’s ever-increasing debt.
Despite the divided priorities, the push to provide federal funds for chambers appears to have bipartisan support.
Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., led a letter earlier this month signed by 60 other members of Congress urging House leadership to extend eligibility for the program to chambers of commerce and similar organizations that assist small businesses.
“Unfortunately, just like the small businesses they serve, many local chambers are now experiencing their own financial challenges,” the Pappas-Fitzpatrick letter said. “If these organizations are unable to survive, the path to recovery for our hard-hit Main Street economy will be even more difficult.”
In the Senate, a similar letter is being prepared, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., urged Senate leaders to expand the program to chambers and other nonprofit organizations.
Cruz won’t be able to file his bill until the Senate is back in session next week.
Cruz has also made previous calls for the financial assistance program to be expanded to chambers of commerce, authoring a letter last week to the Small Business Administration that requested chambers and other nonprofit organizations that assist small businesses get access to the PPP. In the letter, Cruz argued that chambers would use PPP funds to retain staff whose core job is to assist local businesses.
“If we allow these incubators of growth and innovation to go under, it will seriously delay our economy’s ability to recover from this crisis,” he wrote.