Today, U.S. Representative Ted Deutch (FL-22) wrote to U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza urging the agency to issue the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) advancements of $10,000 within three days as required under the CARES Act.

When small businesses apply for the EIDL program, they may request immediate assistance of $10,000 to help cover urgent expenses until their EIDL application is approved. Congress included in the CARES Act a provision requiring the SBA to issue this advancement within three days of when the application was submitted.

However, many small businesses are not receiving this advancement within the required amount of time. In South Florida, businesses have waited a week and even up to nearly 3 weeks for this advancement while receiving no assistance from SBA.

This program is intended to offer urgent and immediate support to small businesses; instead, with disbursements severely delayed, small businesses are faltering.

As Rep. Deutch writes, "The economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic are making it impossible for many small businesses to keep their employees on the payroll, to make rent and mortgage payments, and meet their basic business needs. Receiving the $10,000 payment can keep a business from permanently closing."

The text of the letter is below and can be accessed here.

On Monday, Rep. Deutch wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to urge her to expeditiously distribute the $14 billion in Higher Education Emergency Relief funds provided by the CARES Act, including the $7 billion in emergency financial aid grants students urgently need.

Also on Monday, Rep. Deutch sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin expressing concern for the rollout of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for small businesses and requesting additional guidance on its implementation.

On Tuesday, Rep. Deutch wrote a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Peter Gaynor to raise concerns that vast amounts of personal protective equipment (PPE) are disappearing from FEMA’s view and being lost to a broken private sector supply chain.



Dear Administrator Carranza,

I write to urge your Agency to ensure that every small business applying for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL ) program and requests the immediate assistance of $10,000 be provided the assistance within the three days as required under the CARES Act.

As you are aware, the CARES Act permits small businesses that apply for an EIDL to request an immediate advancement of $10,000 that is distributed to the business within three days of submitting an application. The three-day requirement is a provision – Section 1110(e)(1) - in the CARES Act that is now law.

The intent of the three-day provision is to provide a critical source of funding to bridge the time between a small business submitting an EIDL application and the business receiving approval of their loan application. Small businesses that are applying for the EIDL and also requesting an immediate $10,000 within three days of submitting their application are in dire financial need. The economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic are making it impossible for many small businesses to keep their employees on the payroll, to make rent and mortgage payments, and meet their basic business needs. Receiving the $10,000 payment can keep a business from permanently closing.

I strongly urge your Agency to quickly provide small businesses requesting the $10,000 with the funding they need as they wait for their EIDL applications to be resolved. This $10,000 is a critical funding bridge for small businesses in the present economic climate. Indeed, Congress has required in law that this funding be provided within three days of the request. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I look forward to continuing to work with you to assist our small businesses and their employees.


Sincerely,

Theodore E. Deutch
Member of Congress