FEI joined with 165 national trade associations and 92 state and local organizations in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Congressional leaders urging quick action on providing additional funding to the Paycheck Protection Program, the main source of COVID-19 relief financing for small and medium-sized businesses. In late March, Congress created the program as part of the CARES Act, allocating $349 billion to the Small Business Administration to provide forgivable loans to businesses with fewer than 500 employees who keep at least 75 percent of their staff on the payroll through the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SBA has reported that funding allocated by Congress has been nearly depleted as thousands of US businesses have sought access to the program. FEI joined with more than 250 trade and business organizations calling for the Congress and the Trump Administration to work together to expeditiously add additional funding to the program so that those companies that have not yet been able to apply for the program will not be shut out of this critical financial lifeline.
View FEI's cosigned letter sent to key members of the House and Senate leadership on April 15, 2020 »