Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica) is calling on the federal government to give New York State its fair share of funding from the Paycheck Protection Program. Businesses in the state received the second lowest percentage of funding from the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program. During a virtual press conference late last week…Brindisi said that’s not right.
"There’s a great disparity right now between what New York is getting and what other states are getting," Brindisi said. "And with the amount of unemployment we’ve seen in New York, and the number of COVID cases we’ve had, New York should be at the front of the list in terms of money allocated from the Paycheck Protection Program, not at the back of the list, where we are right now."
He sent a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration asking it to ensure funds from the latest PPP pot, are distributed equitably, especially to rural and underserved communities.
Brindisi says small Mom and Pop and rural businesses have been left out of the federal aid, as many big banks have turned funds over to large customers.
"Many of these small mom and pops, they don't have the accountants and lawyers on staff to walk them through the intricacies of this program, and that's why the SBA has to do better outreach to see that money is going into those areas," he said.
The Small Business Administration is implementing the $310 billion Congress appropriated last week as part of the second relief package or business owners. The first $349 billion package ran out in just 13 days.
