Rep. Lee to Administration: Don’t Forget About Nevada’s Small Businesses
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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03) delivered remarks before the House Small Business Committee ahead of today's House vote on the fourth COVID-19 congressional relief package.
Rep. Lee called on her colleagues and the administration to support the true intent of the CARES Act's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which is to provide relief to all legally-operating small businesses, including small businesses that get revenue from legal gaming:
"There was no statutory mandate excluding gaming from this bill. Basically, Washington bureaucrats chose to apply a regulation that was not meant for this bill.
"First of all, I ask that the administration finally do the right thing and address this administratively. It's sort of bizarre that, the bigger part of the CARES package applied to our bigger gaming operators. They get to access that money.
"I'm talking about the restaurant owners, the tavern owners, the convenience store owners. These are all employees deserving of protection. I know you understand that. I ask that if the administration continues to make this exception—and in my opinion, overreach—that this committee will address this statutorily in the next [package]."
BACKGROUND: Since the enaction of the Paycheck Protection Program, Congresswoman Lee has been fighting for the eligibility of all legally-operating small businesses in the program.
Yesterday, Rep. Lee and Nevada U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen led a group of their House and Senate colleagues in bicameral letters to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship and the Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Small Business requesting that they take steps to explicitly ensure that all legally-operating small businesses and non-profit organizations allowed to access the PPP under the CARES Act can actually obtain these loans.
This week, Rep. Lee sent a letter to House leadership calling on Congress to expand PPP eligibility for credit unions to help small businesses.
Earlier this month, the bicameral, bipartisan Nevada congressional delegation sent a letter to House and Senate leadership urging them to include gaming small businesses in Nevada and across the country in PPP. Rep. Lee also sent a letter to SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin regarding the exclusion of small businesses that derive more than a third of their revenue from gaming from eligibility in PPP.