U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) announced bold new proposals to support the small- and mid-sized businesses most affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. The Young-Bennet plan includes a new RESTART loan program to provide funding to jump-start the hardest-hit businesses for the remainder of 2020 and provide loan forgiveness as a backstop against ongoing difficulties. It would also make enhancements to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to support restaurants and other deeply affected businesses.
“The Paycheck Protection Program is working for many small businesses, but we know more needs to be done. The RESTART Act will go a step further by helping to provide longer-term loans to businesses and non-profits that are experiencing economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and our goal is to revitalize the economy and get them back to work as quickly as possible,” said Senator Young.
“With a simple change to the Paycheck Protection Program – doubling the amount of time hard-hit businesses have to deploy their funds – we can help restaurants, gyms, mom-and-pops, and other Main Street businesses weather these difficult times,” said Senator Bennet. “At the same time, we need a long-term strategy to help businesses ramp back up in the second half of the year and provide some assurance they’ll be able to survive the uncertainty they face. Our new RESTART Program will provide flexible funding with a longer repayment period to Main Street businesses that took a big financial hit, so they can relaunch and rehire their workers when it’s safe to do so.”
