In a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury and Small Business Administration (SBA) today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) urged the agencies to make changes to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) so that they will better serve the Minnesota job-creators in most need of relief.

Demand for these programs quickly outpaced funding provided by the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act and CARES Act. While congressional leaders have reached an agreement to inject new funding into the relief programs, cumbersome and short-sighted Administration rules will still leave many Minnesota small businesses unable to qualify for or use them.

Phillips, who has spent countless hours speaking with Minnesota small businesses and Chambers of Commerce, demanded urgent congressional action in support of small businesses last week, and made the following requests of the Administration in his letter today:

• Clarify rules around distribution of funds to ensure that big banks are working to fill the priorities of the country, rather than the priorities of their own bottom lines.
• Allow businesses to have their PPP loan origination date coincide with the date they actually re-open. This change would help protect restaurants and retailers whose businesses are closed by mandated stay-at-home orders.
• Return the terms of PPP loan forgiveness to those that were clearly and intentionally stipulated in the CARES Act and remove the Administration’s additional requirements.
• Change the SBA’s definition of “small business” to include “startups” and make them eligible for PPP.
• Return to the “up to $10,000” limit for the EIDL cash advance as stipulated in the CARES Act, and make it apply retroactively to sole proprietors and self-employed individuals who received fewer funds.

Click here to download Phillips’s letter.