President Donald Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump hosted an event on Tuesday that featured small business owners from around the country sharing their feedback on the administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which has been spearheaded by Ivanka Trump.
“Amy Wright, the owner of Bitty & Beau’s Coffee Shops that currently employs 120 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, joined the president on stage to praise the ‘very accessible’ financial aid allocated for small businesses shuttered by the coronavirus,” Fox News reported.
“We employ 120 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. For most of them, it is their first paying job, which made the decision for us to temporarily close all five of our shops especially difficult,” Wright said. “But, thanks to the Paycheck Protection Program and the incredible team, all 120 employees are back on the payroll today and working from home writing handwritten notes that we include with each online order we ship.”
Michael Heup, who works for Wright, said on stage, “At Bitty & Beau’s, we use the phrase ‘not broken’ — that means me and all my coworkers are not broken and we have lots to offer. I know that the great country of the United States isn’t broken either. So on behalf of myself and all the employees, thank you.”
Ivanka Trump responded to the event by telling Fox News, “Bitty & Beau’s Coffee represents the backbone of our economy and the heart of American business. Through the successful Paycheck Protection Program, we have been able to give this shining light a lifeline during this unprecedented crisis. It’s been an honor to get to know Amy, and meet her colleague Michael, as we host them at the White House and share their incredible story.”
WATCH:
THANK YOU MICHAEL! @bittyandbeaus pic.twitter.com/KVXVcdO79E
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2020
While Republicans were aggressively pushing to pass an additional funding bill to replenish the $350 billion in the PPP, Democrats blocked and stalled it from passing, which hurt American businesses and citizens.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Republicans were responsible for the delay in getting the additional funding passed, which is not true. In fact, Pelosi even praised Democrats at the time for blocking the bill which would have added $250 billion to the PPP.
The Republican-led Senate passed a a massive $484 billion aid package last week to help struggling small businesses, which included funds for the PPP, after Senate Democrats blocked the move to help Americans last week.
The coronavirus relief package replenishes the “small business rescue program known as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), provide hospitals with another $75 billion and implement a nationwide virus testing program to facilitate reopening the economy,” Fox News’ Gregg Re reported. “The new deal would provide more than $300 billion for the PPP, with $60 billion or so set aside — and divided equally — for smaller banks and community lenders that seek to focus on under-banked neighborhoods and rural areas.”
The bill makes another “$60 billion available for a small-business loans and grants program delivered through an existing small-business disaster aid program, $10 billion of which would come in the form of direct grants.”
McConnell slammed Pelosi and the Democrats for their game playing, which delayed getting money to American businesses suffering from the pandemic.
“Senate Republicans wanted more funding for Americans’ paychecks nearly two weeks ago, before the program even shut down. But in the days that our Democratic colleagues delayed these urgent funds, additional federal help for hospitals, healthcare providers, and testing became timely as well,” McConnell said. “Republicans have always supported more medical funding as soon as necessary. So I am proud this package will provide roughly $75 billion more to fund hospitals and healthcare providers in this crisis.”
“It’s unfortunate that it took our Democratic colleagues 12 days to agree to a deal that contains essentially nothing that Republicans ever opposed,” McConnell continued. “In my view it is indefensible that Main Street small businesses and their workers had their assistance cut off for partisan ‘leverage.’ That was the word of choice for one leading House Democrat – ‘leverage.’”
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