Tag: us senate small business and entrepreneurship committee

Last week, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY, introduced the “Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise Act” with Salazar, U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Penn., and U.S. Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., as co-sponsors. The bill “would reauthorize the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise (ICWBE), a U.S. government entity charged with coordinating federal resources to help women-owned businesses grow and succeed.”

At the start of 2019, Rubio teamed up with U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Mary., now the chairman of the Small Business Committee, on SBA Cyber Awareness Act.” Rubio brought the bill back this week with the support of U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho. 

“The legislation would reauthorize the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation Pilot Program to give small businesses the opportunity to take out low-interest loans for the purpose of proactively implementing mitigation measures to protect their property from future disaster related damage,” Rubio’s office noted.

Rubio, who leads the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, thanked the backers of the proposal but noted that it provides less than $300 billion for small businesses, including another round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and more funds for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

On Thursday, Rubio sent a letter to Jovita Carranza, the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), requesting information from the agency following a recent Inspector General report that found billions of dollars in potential fraud in the expanded Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program for COVID-19. 

Rubio, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin, and Jovita Carranza, the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), urging the agencies to provide the committee with information related to the loan review and forgiveness procedures that will be used to audit Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. 

“The legislation would reauthorize the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation Pilot Program to give small businesses the opportunity to take out low-interest loans for the purpose of proactively implementing mitigation measures to protect their property from future disaster related damage,” Rubio’s office noted. 

With the help of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Rubio is pushing some amendments to the coronavirus relief package which Congress is trying to get across the finish line before the end of the session.