Thanks to actions taken by Congressional Democrats, the small business rescue program has officially run out of money.
Last week Republicans and Democrats clashed over additional financing. While Republicans sought an additional $250 billion to prevent this, Democrats used the situation as an opportunity to demand even more spending, including cash for state and local governments, hospitals, and food stamp programs. While that sort of funding is a discussion to be had, it’s a separate discussion from addition funding for small business relief.
But because Democrats insisted on merging the two issues into one, that further complicated and delayed things to the point of insolvency.
According to CNBC:
The Small Business Administration’s rescue loan program hit its $349 billion limit on Thursday and is now out of money as the nation’s top Republicans and Democrats struggle to agree on how to restore its funds.
The SBA website reads that it is “unable to accept new applications for the Paycheck Protection Program based on available appropriations funding. Similarly, we are unable to enroll new PPP lenders at this time.”
The announcement from the SBA on Thursday comes as scores of small American business owners work to deal with the fallout of the coronavirus and the move by some states to shutter the vast majority of commerce.
Signs that the program was reaching critical capacity first came on Wednesday, when the SBA said the aid may be nearing a ceiling for loan commitments, with more than 1.3 million loans given approval at a value of more than $296 billion. By Wednesday evening, $315 billion had been approved, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC.
Now, how long until the Democrats that caused this put the blame on Trump?
