Views from Washington, D.C.
New Assignments Present Opportunities to Strengthen Economy
Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer
A New Year has begun and with it, a renewed start for Congress and America in our continued recovery from the pandemic. Shortly before Christmas, Congress passed another historic funding package to aid in the continued relief efforts nationwide. Missouri is coming back quickly. With the vaccine rollout and Paycheck Protection Program’s reopening, we will soon return to fully normal life and our businesses can get back to paying their employees and serving their communities.
In addition to my role leading the Financial Services Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions in this Congress, I also am honored to serve as the leading Republican
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on the House Committee for Small Business. In this position, I lead the oversight of government programs that help and hurt small businesses, their employees and their customers. As the committee with sole jurisdiction over the Small Business Administration, which operates the PPP, our work will be more important than ever, especially with a new administration.
Congress’ most recent relief legislation provided more than $280 billion to restart and strengthen the PPP, and it is now accepting first and second round applications for all qualifying small businesses needing assistance. We have used feedback from lenders and small business owners who participated in the first round of the
program to ensure it is more targeted and user friendly this time around. It is specifically geared toward the industries that have been most impacted by the economic shutdowns and has added protections to ensure those who do not need the support do not get it. It also prevents small businesses that have received PPP funds from being taxed for accepting help. And, of particular importance for banks, the forgiveness process has been streamlined to be less burdensome and less expensive for loans up to $150,000.
Along with PPP, traditional SBA lending programs such as 7(a) and 504 will play a significant role in our economic recovery. Much of the committee’s focus will be
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