House Passes Bipartisan Relief Bill Providing Additional Relief to Michigan Small Businesses

Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05), Chief Deputy Whip of the House Democratic Caucus, today applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for passing thePaycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act,a bipartisan coronavirus relief package to provide additional relief for Michigan's small businesses and hospitals, as well as expand testing.

"Michigan's small businesses are the backbone of our economy and we must ensure that they can stay afloat during this pandemic," Congressman Kildee said. "I am pleased that Republicans and Democrats once again came together to quickly pass this additional economic relief for small businesses. We must make sure that this additional relief gets to the small businesses on Main Street that truly need it the most. The additional support for our hospitals, health care workers and testing is critical as we continue to deal with this global pandemic."

This bill, supported by Republicans and Democrats, includes support for:

• Small businesses: the bill strengthens the Paycheck Protection Program, a relief program included in theCARES Actto support small businesses by providing loans up to $20 million dollars—loans that can be forgiven if small businesses use most of that money to keep workers on the payroll during this pandemic. While Congress initially appropriated $750 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, today's bill includes $310 billion in additional funding for small business loans. Democrats were also able to ensure that $60 billion of the new money is set aside for small businesses that need it most, including those in underbanked or underserved areas. Today's bill reserves $30 billion for community-based lenders, small banks and credit unions and $30 billion for medium-sized banks and credit unions. The bill also expands small business support beyond PPP by securing $50 billion for SBA disaster lending and $10 billion in SBA disaster grants. It also includes strong protections to ensure that our nation's farmers have access to this vital assistance.
• Hospitals and health care workers: the legislation provides $75 billion in support of hospitals, including additional resources to provide personal protective equipment to frontline health care workers.
• All Americans: the bill secures $25 billion for testing, which is the key to reopening the economy. The Trump Administration has agreed to a national strategic testing policy that will focus on increasing domestic testing capacity including testing supplies.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Congressman Kildee has worked tirelessly to prioritize direct support for Michigan workers, seniors and small businesses. Kildee previously helped to pass three other emergency aid packages responding to the coronavirus, including:

• H.R. 6201, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which included paid sick and family leave, strengthened food assistance and ensured free coronavirus testing.
• H.R. 6074, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, which included $8.3 billion in emergency funds to accelerate vaccine funding and buy more personal protective equipment for frontline health care workers.
• H.R. 748, theCARES Act.which provided direct payments to taxpayers and immediate economic relief to workers, small businesses, frontline hospitals and health care workers.##