House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted to delaying a replenishment of the Paycheck Protection Program that would provide an additional $250 billion to small-business owners.
The program was established as part of the $2.3 trillion CARES Act, which was created to offset the economic consequences of the COVID-19 virus by providing financial relief to companies and workers, but its funds ran dry last week.
Pelosi, 80, explained in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday night that the holdup was a result of her request for “data” on how the money will be allocated.
“Before you know it, boom: All of a sudden, [the small-business relief fund was] already out of money. And when the secretary came and asked me for $250 billion, a quarter of a trillion dollars, in 24 hours, I said, ‘Well, we want to see the data on how that is spent,'” she said. “But also, we want to make sure that we are — as long as we are going to the floor, that we do so in a way that makes sure that everyone can participate in the program.”
The California Democrat also accused the Republicans of rebuffing her party’s efforts before recently caving.
She said that Democrats’ efforts got additional provisions allocating “about $120 billion more” for “small businesses … geared to our underbanked communities, women- and minority-owned businesses, Native American, rural America, veterans, small businesses, and the rest.”
Her explanation echoed that of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, who has faced similar questions about the delay from Democrats.
“So we Democrats said, ‘Yes, we want to put more money in [for small business financial relief], but let’s set aside some money to make sure it goes to the rural areas, to the minority areas, to the unbanked.’ And the $60 billion for the disaster loan was our proposal, and now the [Trump] administration is going along with that,” he told the network a day earlier.
