Last Friday, people woke up to the news that the nation added 2.5 million jobs in May. Now that was surprising, not simply because people have gone to bed night after night with images of our downtowns on fire and the ensuing riots, but because economists told us the morning would bring humbling reports of nearly 20% unemployment.
So, why did the United States have its best single-month job gains since the 1940s? I’d first point to governors across the nation reopening their economies, which is resulting in job growth in the restaurant, retail, and hospitality sectors. The restaurant industry alone, which has been particularly wounded and a sector I have spent a great deal of time focusing on during these shutdowns, was responsible for 1.4 million of the jobs added last month.
Reopening, which is as important and quintessential to our full economic recovery as any other factor, does not explain everything. Some of those gains must be attributed to the Paycheck Protection Program that Congress passed in March. The program has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to small businesses, which has, in turn, allowed them to remain open and keep their employees on the payroll. It also, importantly, allowed businesses to hire back more people, as we saw last month, once we began reopening society. We should continue this trajectory, not fall back.
While the PPP program has helped many, I’ve heard from business owners in central Texas and across the country who have, for one reason or another, been unable to take the loans. They’ve had a list of complaints.
For some, the requirement that 75% of the loan be spent on payroll was unrealistic, particularly for those businesses operating in high-rent districts and with high operating expenses. For others, the requirements to obtain loan forgiveness were too narrow, as was the repayment timeline. On top of all of it, many businesses couldn’t comply with the rehiring requirements under PPP to receive forgiveness because their employees were being paid more on enhanced unemployment insurance to not work than to work.
After months of work, in late May, the House of Representatives fixed many of those problems when it passed my bipartisan legislation with Rep. Dean Phillips, a Democrat from Minnesota: the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act. It passed overwhelmingly, with 417 votes in favor and just one against. Last week, the Senate passed it unanimously, and President Trump signed it into law. It couldn’t come at a better time.
The Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act is going to both provide relief to small businesses who are suffering, whether that be from prolonged government shutdowns or, more recently, at the hands of looters and vandals, and will help fuel economic growth as America continues to reopen society. If we don’t help save our local institutions and businesses now, the 13% of people who remain on the unemployment line won’t have jobs to return to on the other side.
I was proud to work with Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate to get this bill across the finish line. I believe our work here shows the true value in single-issue legislating, rather than pushing thousand-page monstrosities that spend trillions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Our bill was a few pages long and easy to understand. Guess what? It passed overwhelmingly. Think of what we could accomplish if Congress tried legislating more and playing politics less.
Instead of looking to pass some “Phase 4” behemoth legislation, moving forward, we should focus our efforts entirely on reopening society. If we need to tweak what we’ve already passed, as we did today, let’s talk about that. But we cannot afford to roll back the progress we are clearly making. Let America open.
Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican, represents Texas’ 21st Congressional District.
