Manchin, SBA admin host round table about PPP loans
The U.S. Small Business Administration still has $129 billion of CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program money to hand out to small businesses by June 30.
So Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., brought SBA Adminstrator Jovita Carranza to Morgantown to learn from local banks and business owners how the PPP and its companion Economic Injury Disaster Loan have worked so far.
Carranza told the group assembled at the Morgantown Area Economic Partnership office that she started her job Jan. 15 and by mid-March was signing disaster declarations stemming from COVID-19.
With the deadline approaching, she said, banks, business leaders and public officials need to get the word out that the money is available.
Small businesses make up 45-48% of every state’s workforce, she said during a press Q&A afterward, and two out of every three net new jobs.
“When you look at the 31 million small businesses and the power and the momentum that they can bring to this economy in short order by optimizing the Paycheck Protection Program, there’s not enough hours in the day to commit to make sure that occurs,” she said.
Manchin said if the SBA isn’t able to distribute all the money, Congress will most likely approve an extension. In addition, $400 billion said aside for businesses with more than 500 employees is sitting idle because those businesses didn’t want the accountability — prohibitions on executive bonuses and stock buybacks, for example — and sought private funding. So he’d like to see a portion of that sent to the SBA to channel to small businesses through the PPP and EIDL.
Hearing from the attendees, Carranza learned that on the positive side, PPP loans have helped some businesses survive the pandemic. Roya Maher, president of A3L Federal Works in Fairmont said the PPP allowed her to keep all her staff plus hire one more.
On the negative side, only 16,789 of the state’s 113,779 small businesses sought PPP loans, Carranza said, receiving $1.783 billion. The banks and business owners told her of various obstacles that have made it hard for some to apply — including lack of clarity about the rules and lack of internet access.
Lack of broadband, they said, has many owners filling out paper forms. Lack of clarity has some worried about how much of the partially forgivable PPP loans they’ll have to pay back.
On the payback issue, Herman DeProspero, market president for MVB Bank, suggested SBA set some kind of threshold — maybe $2 million — where every loan that falls below the threshold is automatically forgivable. It might encourage some owners to apply who’ve been fearful up to this point.
Carranza said a possible threshold is under discussion but it’s taxpayer money so they can’t just send it out without some accountability.
Asked by The Dominion Post after the meeting what her take-home from the local business community was, she said, “They’d like clarity and expediency. I assured them we were augmenting our systems.” And she told them the Trump administration is committed to the small business community. “What is really motivating is that they’re ready to hire new employees and add to their payroll.”
She circled back to getting the word out and easing small business owners’ apprehensions. “It’s really about outreach and over-communication.”
When she returns to D.C., she said, she plans to have conference call with more than 2,000 faith-based and nonprofit organizations to urge them to apply. The SBA is also reopening EIDL loan applications.
Manchin offer a final encouragement for those business owners feeling distraught and hopeless as they try to survive the pandemic. Call your bank, he said. Call the SBA or the office of any member of Congress. “See if we can help you get back into the game, because there’s still money for you, that we can make sure you qualify for.”
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