Yesterday, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet released the following statement after voting against US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) proposal:
“Mitch McConnell’s proposal is woefully inadequate. It fails to provide long-term support to our hardest-hit businesses that have been completely or mostly shuttered during the pandemic, including concert venues, movie theaters, and performing artists. It does not make needed changes to include critical access hospitals and local newspapers and broadcasters in the Paycheck Protection Program. It fails to provide sustained support to businesses that continue to operate at limited capacity — including restaurants, gyms, salons, hotels and motels, seasonal businesses, and more. It does not do enough to help nonprofits, many of which are at the front lines of addressing the pandemic. It also fails to remove arbitrary limits on Economic Injury Disaster Loans imposed by this administration. And it fails to ensure that underserved businesses — including minority-owned, women-owned, and rural businesses — are able to access the assistance they need.
“Colorado small business owners have told me that any relief effort must provide the hardest-hit businesses with targeted and long-term assistance. That’s why I have worked with Senator Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, to develop the RESTART Act. Our proposal has 57 bipartisan cosponsors and would deliver targeted and long-term assistance to the hardest-hit businesses — restaurants, salons, hotels, concert venues, gyms, movie theaters, local newspapers, seasonal businesses, and more. The McConnell bill hangs these businesses out to dry and fails to provide the sustained relief Americans need.
“The Majority Leader should stop the politics and work in good faith with Democrats and the administration to pass a comprehensive relief package. That package should include longer-term support for our hardest-hit businesses and nonprofits, expanded unemployment benefits, support for state and local governments, and a national testing and contact tracing strategy to tackle this public health crisis and safely keep our economy open.
“I will continue to work with anyone who wants to pass a real relief package.”