On March 27, President Trump signed the CARES Act into law, legislation that injected more than $2 trillion directly and quickly into our economy to help workers, families, and small businesses make it through this disruption and return to economic functionality. The CARES Act also established the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a nearly $350 billion program that provides forgivable loans to small business owners to help them stay afloat during this emergency and continue paying their employees.
POSITIVES FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Small businesses in Nevada saw a quick infusion of relief funding through PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advance funds. Learn more about this funding below.
As of April 17th, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved:
- 8,674 PPP loans in Nevada totaling $2,013,939,889 in assistance.
As of April 20th, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has processed:
- 8,157 EIDL advances in Nevada totaling $33,415,000 in assistance, which do not have to be paid back; and
- 545 EIDL loans in Nevada totaling $118,171,500 in assistance, which must be paid back.
Between both assistance programs, small businesses in the State have received $2.16 billion of immediate, direct cash assistance.
FAILURES OF THE PPP
Large Companies Taking Relief Meant for Small Businesses
The intent of the PPP was to help America’s small businesses keep employees on payroll and prevent mass layoffs across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, large publicly traded companies – several which have market values well in excess of $100 million – have received hundreds of millions of dollars in PPP funds while some main street businesses have received nothing.
Many companies applied for PPP loans without thoughtfully determining if they actually needed this assistance, but since it was available, they took what turned out to be a subsidy instead of a needed economic bridge to carry businesses through this disaster. Partially, because of this, funding for the PPP dried up far too quickly.
Discrimination Against Small Gaming Businesses
One glaring injustice as it pertains to the implementation of the PPP, is the intentional discrimination against small gaming entities who employ hundreds of thousands of workers across 43 states, including many in communities throughout Nevada.
The intent of the CARES Act was to carry out the President’s promise to deliver much-needed relief to our nation’s small businesses and their employees through the PPP, not to pick winners and losers by deciding which jobs are worthy of rescuing and which aren’t. However, that’s exactly what the SBA was doing by administratively prohibiting small gaming businesses from receiving the same relief currently being offered to other small businesses.
For a closer look at how this discriminatory guidance affects these employers and their workers, the Nevada Gaming Commission has provided our office with additional information from Fiscal Year 2019: Out of the 456 casinos in Nevada, 371 have less than 500 employees. Conservatively speaking, that’s approximately 50,000 Nevada jobs supported by small gaming entities, not counting suppliers and other support industries.
Congressional intent in the CARES Act for the PPP was for all small businesses to be eligible. In fact, in Section 1102 of the CARES Act, the legislation explicitly states that “in addition to small business concerns, any business concern, nonprofit organization, veterans organization, or Tribal business concern described in section 31(b)(2)(C) shall be eligible to receive a covered loan” if the business has 500 or fewer employees.
Since the discriminatory SBA guidance was released, my staff and I have been working to get it fixed. After conversations with officials at the SBA were met with bureaucratic resistance, I began working directly with officials at Treasury and the White House to get this issue resolved.
Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called me to advise that small gaming businesses would be approved for participation in the present round of PPP funding. Today, we received the official announcement following Treasury’s release of new guidance which you may view here.
Thank you, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Director of the United States National Economic Council Larry Kudlow, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Eric Ueland, as well as Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Your individual efforts as well as those of your staffs are greatly appreciated.
LOOKING AHEAD
Congress Works to Fix Some of These Concerns
I joined my colleagues in the House on Thursday to pass the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (PPP/HCE), an economic recovery package the Senate passed earlier this week.
Specifically, the bill provides:
- An additional $310 billion for the PPP, which will allow SBA to continue providing forgivable PPP loans to small business owners to help cover the cost of payroll and operating expenses during this difficult time;
- $60 billion for the SBA’s economic injury disaster loans (EIDL) and grants, which is another key source of assistance for small businesses;
- $75 billion to support front line healthcare professionals, providers, first responders, and hospitals; and
- $25 billion to expand testing, which will provide information on where cases are developing, and support continued efforts to reopen communities and help them return to economic functionality.
Additional Relief Funding Allocated to Nevada
While our present economic situation is quite serious, and the mission is not accomplished, here are some of the running totals for relief provided to the state of Nevada and nationwide:
In Nevada, hospitals have received more than $600 million in aid across four relief packages, state and local governments have received $1.25 billion, funding for housing projects has totaled over $19 million, direct payments to individuals totals over $2.5 billion, and as mentioned above, relief for small businesses in Nevada totals over $2 billion. This funding amounts to more than $7.6 billion in aid to the state and its citizens.
To put these funding levels into perspective, consider the fact that Nevada’s budget is enacted to cover a two-year period, known as a biennium. The most recent two-year state budget was approximately $27 billion, which would average about $1.125 billion per month. Meaning, at this point, the federal government’s direct assistance has more than surpassed the state’s operating budget.
Nationwide, other highlights include $19.6 billion for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, $1.5 billion for the expansion of military hospitals and mobile medical centers, $1 billion for the Defense Department to help with the production of medical supplies, $510 billion in expanded lending for businesses and local governments, and $25 billion for necessary expenses to research, develop, validate, manufacture, purchase, administer, and expand capacity for COVID-19 tests, with $11 billion specifically for states and localities to develop and analyze COVID-19 tests, scale-up laboratory capacity, trace contacts, and support employer testing.
NEVADA NEWS
Public Lands Update
It is our belief that this year's National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will address the Fallon Range Training Complex (FRTC), either by allowing for an expansion of the base, or pushing the issue back to be addressed in the 117th Congress. While presently, there is no concrete indication of how the process will play out, I will continue to push for Nevada's lands priorities to be addressed in this legislation.
As always, thank you for subscribing to the Amodei Report. I look forward to continuing to keep you up to date on the issues you care about most. For additional information, please visit my website at amodei.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-6155, Reno office: (775) 686-5760, or Elko office: (775) 777-7705. To receive updates on what I am doing in Washington and in Nevada’s 2nd District follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
