Posted on April 23, 2020

Schumer: Small-Business Loans Were Delayed to Help Minority Communities

Emily Jacobs, New York Post, April 20, 2020

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer fired back against criticism that Democrats were holding up the next round of funds for the Paycheck Protection Program, touting that provisions they got added to the bill will provide aid to rural areas and minority communities.

“Well I would say that the very things that we Democrats have been fighting for, are now going into the bill. If you had a connection with a bank, it was pretty easy to get a loan. If you didn’t, from one end of the country to another, we have been hearing that people can’t get the loans. The local restaurant, the local barbershop, the local drug store — or even start-up businesses, manufacturing or … services that aren’t happening,” Schumer (D-NY) told CNN’s “State of the Union” in an interview Sunday.

“So we Democrats said, ‘Yes, we want to put the 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 [Democrats’] proposal, and now the [Trump] administration is going along with it,” he continued.

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