April 9, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 68 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S2168-S2169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST

  Mr. McCONNELL. Now, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of the bill at the desk. I 
further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed 
and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the 
table.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. CARDIN. Reserving the right to object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, let me just clarify some of the issues the 
majority leader pointed out. I am afraid that this unanimous consent is 
basically a political stunt because it will not address the immediate 
need of small businesses in the legislation that we have passed, and 
let me clarify that.
  The majority leader indicated that the PPP, the Paycheck Protection 
Plan, is running out of money. It hasn't. Thirty percent hasn't been 
committed. It hasn't been yet released. But there are programs under 
the CARES Act that have run out of money. The EIDL program, the 
emergency disaster relief loan program which provides funds for 
businesses--we have allowed businesses that have been affected by the 
coronavirus to file those claims--that has run out of money, and I will 
give you the numbers in a few moments. And the grant program that is 
included in the CARES at up to $10,000, where a small business can get 
a grant from the Small Business Administration, is out of funds. They 
need money today in order to process applications.
  The SBA doesn't need money today to process the Paycheck Protection 
Program. The Paycheck Protection Program was negotiated in good faith 
by Senator Rubio, Senator Collins, Senator Shaheen, and myself, and we 
are very proud of that program. It is working very well. It is a good 
program. We strongly support it. It is bipartisan.
  But this unanimous consent request was not negotiated. There was no 
effort made to follow the process that we could get this done, so it 
won't get done. It is not going to be enacted, and the majority leader 
knows that. So what Democrats are prepared to make clear--every small 
business that is eligible to receive the Paycheck Protection Plan, we 
are going to support their applications being received, processed, and 
fully funded. We will put as much money as needed to make sure that 
every small business can participate that is eligible in that program. 
The UC does not affect that today, but what the UC leaves out is where 
small businesses need help today from the U.S. Congress.
  Yesterday, we had an opportunity to find out the numbers--and as the 
majority leader pointed out, we have got to get this right. There are 
6.6 million more uninsured today, as we learned from the current 
numbers. We have to protect small businesses to protect their payroll, 
and that is what our plans do.
  Yesterday, we were informed by the SBA, as the majority leader 
indicated, that we have about $100 billion that has been processed. 
Now, that has not been distributed yesterday. It hasn't been 
distributed in large numbers because of documentation problems and know 
your customer rules have prevented some of these funds--a lot of these 
funds, the majority of these funds--to be released.
  Today, applications are being processed. Tomorrow, applications are 
going to be processed. The day after that, applications are going to be 
processed because we provided $350 billion. At this moment, we are at 
about $100 billion. We are going to have to probably provide more 
money, and we are all for that.
  But where is the urgency, as far as the small businesses are 
concerned? So let me go over those. One, the emergency grant program--
this is a program where grants are offered by the Small Business 
Administration. You don't have to have a banking relationship with a 
commercial bank in order to get these loans. It is very, very popular--
3.8 million requests have come in, in regards to these loans--3.8 
million, representing $372 billion of loans.
  But here is the problem: We have only authorized $7.3 billion of 
loans under the program. That is why we are suggesting, if you add 
another $50 billion--you can authorize another $300 billion of loans 
under the emergency disaster relief program. Today, if you have 
requested that loan today and you requested the average amount that is 
being requested--and you have to show need in this program--you have 
got to document the need that the disaster has affected your viability 
as a business. The average loan is $200,000. That is what they are 
requesting.
  Guess how much money the SBA can issue today? It is $15,000. That is 
an urgent need that we should deal with today, and we are prepared to 
deal with it. There is a second program for small--by the way, smaller 
businesses participate in these programs more so than the PPP program.
  There is a second program. It is a grant program up to $10,000. Our 
working bipartisan group recognized that there are some businesses that 
are in desperate need of cash immediately. These loans are processed 
within 3 days. We have had--so far requests for the grant program, 3.5 
million small businesses have requested funds, totaling a request for 
$11 billion on a sliding scale. It doesn't even give every small 
business $10,000.
  How much money did we appropriate? $10 billion. SBA cannot release 
those funds in 3 days because they don't have the money to do it. The 
UC by the majority leader does not provide that money so that those 
small businesses can get that cash. That is not provided.

[[Page S2169]]

  Now, we got that information yesterday, and maybe the majority leader 
didn't have it, but we can tell you they can't issue those grants, and 
that is under the CARES Act, and that is out of money.
  I am also going to tell you some stories we have heard in Maryland, 
and we have heard it all over the country. I have heard from small 
businesses that went to their bank in order to participate in the PPP 
loan, and they were told that they didn't have a credit card, so the 
bank wasn't going to write the loan, or they hadn't had a previous loan 
with that bank, so the bank is not going to write the loan.
  We have heard from some community banks that they can only handle 
existing customers; they can't do additional customers at this point. 
We have heard from rural small businesses; they can't find lenders who 
will write these notes. We have to do a better job.
  What did we find out yesterday? Of the total 7(a) lenders that are 
out there today, about 90 percent were certified before the CARES Act. 
We have only increased their numbers by about 10 percent. That is not 
enough. We can't reach these underserved communities. We have to do a 
better job in reaching these underserved communities so that a small 
business that doesn't have that type of relationship with a bank can 
still participate in the Paycheck Protection Plan. This UC does nothing 
at all about that issue--nothing at all about that.
  The urgent issues are not dealt with in this UC. That is why the 
process of negotiating--allowing us to come together and figure out 
what is the best way to move forward--will result in us actually 
getting something done to help the small business community. There are 
other urgent needs. My colleague, Senator Van Hollen, is going to talk 
about some of these.
  The healthcare issues, my colleague and I have participated in 
numerous conference calls over the last 2 weeks. I am sure my other 
colleagues have done the same. We have heard from our healthcare 
providers, that they are ready to close the doors. They need immediate 
help and a lot more than the $100 billion that has been provided.
  We talked to our Governor yesterday. He is the head of the National 
Governors Association. They requested $500 billion. They need money. 
Their revenues are down. We know we didn't do right for the District of 
Columbia. We know we didn't do right for smaller communities. We need 
to correct that now because they can't stay in business today. It is 
urgent, and the UC does nothing to help in that regard.
  So, Mr. President, if I could, I would like to allow my colleague 
from Maryland, whom I believe has a reservation also, and then he has a 
UC request of his own.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland.

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