Iowans Can’t Afford To Wait As Payroll Protection Program Expires

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Support for Small Businesses and the Unemployed Will Help the Economy Recover

Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program as a way to provide relief for small businesses impacted during the COVID 19 crisis. The $2.2 trillion relief package was signed in March, and at the end of June, the PPP was extended again until August 8. This program was designed to help small businesses with fewer than 500 employees cover payroll expenses and overhead costs during the economic decline caused by the COVID shutdown. More than 4.8 million small business owners have utilized the program.

“PPP has made [small businesses] able to stay afloat. If Congress can give trillion dollar tax cuts to the rich, they can certainly put some money into our economy,” said small business owner Shawn Gallagher of Cedar Rapids. “The UI benefits are huge and we need to keep that money coming. It takes the pressure off business owners to carry our economy, it’s not our responsibility-it’s time for Congress to take responsibility. It’s criminal that they can take a recess when these plans have not been worked out-but it doesn’t affect them.”

Karen Kubby small business owner Iowa City “PPP funds need to be targeted to medium and small businesses, not large corporations; they have CEOs who have salaries who are padded. The next round should target women and Black and Immigrant owned businesses, recognizing that these groups don’t have as many traditional banking relationships.”

The first round of PPP worked. PPP funds need to go to small businesses, but rich people and corporations are always going to get richer. We need to make sure we keep moving forward – something needs to happen. The more we bog down, people will lose any hope they might have. Mike Draper small business owner.

The PPP expired August 8, and Congress has not acted to extend the benefits to small business owners. Iowa Workforce Development reports 4,662 Iowans filed initial unemployment claims between October 11 and October 17. That number is up by 470 from the previous reporting period.  Continuing weekly unemployment claims totaled 41,967. At a time when a record number of Americans are impacted by the COVID crisis, small business owners cannot afford to wait.