Washington, DC – Congressman Andy Barr (KY-06) released a statement following his vote today in support of the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act:
“For America’s struggling small businesses, there’s no substitute for safely reopening the economy. But until that happens, the Paycheck Protection Program is a lifeline our small business owners need to keep their employees on the payroll and stay in business. That’s why I voted for today’s much-needed legislation, which will replenish the depleted funding for this program and provide hope for millions of small business owners, families, and workers at risk as a result of the pandemic-related shutdown of our economy. Congress must ensure that by ‘flattening the curve,’ we don’t flatten small businesses with it.”
This legislation provides the Paycheck Protection Program with $310 billion in additional funding and allocates $60 billion in funding for the SBA’s economic injury disaster loan program. The first wave of PPP funding delivered $350 billion in forgivable loans to 1.6 million firms nationwide, including over $4 billion to save jobs in Kentucky.
In addition to funding for small businesses, this package also provides $75 billion in funding for hospitals and healthcare providers who continue to fight on the frontlines to defeat COVID-19 and who are sidelined from performing elective procedures. Finally, this legislation includes $25 billion to expand testing to help us safely begin to reopen our economy.