Senators Urge US Treasury to Protect Minority Businesses in Distributing Emergency Funds

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2020) The US government must ensure small and minority businesses are protected when distributing coronavirus emergency funds, ten senators told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday.

"We recommend that a portion of available PPP [Payroll Protection Program] funding be reserved for those borrowers who do not have relationships with the traditional lenders that will dominate delivery of PPP loans," the senators said in a letter.

The senators said more can be done "to reach out to and authorize those lenders such as Community Development Financial Institutions, Minority Depository Institutions and mission-based nonprofit lenders, which are best positioned to bridge the trust gap between many underserved communities and the traditional financial sector.

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The $2 trillion CARES approved by Congress to combat the coronavirus pandemic designates money for owners of virus-shuttered small businesses to continue paying employees.

The money is distributed by banks and other financial institutions as 100 percent federally guaranteed loans, in which money used to pay salaries is converted to grants that do not have to be repaid.

The letter was signed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Ben Cardin, Maria Cantwell, Jeanne Shaheen, Edward Markey, Cory Booker, Christopher Coons, Mazie Hirono, Tammy Duckworth and Jacky Rosen.