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Rubio: “Democrats continue to play politics and use small business owners and employees as leverage for other negotiations. This is not only plausible, but what some of my more sensible colleagues have told me.”
Enough is enough. It’s time to renew the Paycheck Protection Program
By U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
November 16, 2020
Washington Examiner
Among the many priorities left to be accomplished this Congress, none is more important than renewing the Paycheck Protection Program. It should have happened this summer. It needed to happen this fall. Enough is enough. Let’s get this done.
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Instead of passing a new round of PPP relief — and throwing these businesses a lifeline in the process — Democrats calculated that sitting on their hands and denying Republicans a perceived victory would be better for their political fortunes.
Not only did their behavior backfire politically as Republicans made surprising electoral gains in the House, it also left countless small businesses vulnerable and more Americans without jobs.
American workers are not simply a bargaining chip to be played when politicians like Speaker Pelosi need “leverage,” to use her chosen word. And yet as we stare into the abyss once again, Democrat leaders appear unwilling to provide a new lifeline to our small businesses and their employees.
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In that case, the only other explanation is that Democrats continue to play politics and use small business owners and employees as leverage for other negotiations. This is not only plausible, but what some of my more sensible colleagues have told me.
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This isn’t just reckless governance. It’s wildly immoral.
We are better than this as a nation.
And let me speak to my Republican colleagues who have expressed concern about America’s rising debts. You are correct. I ran for the Senate in 2010 because of the same concerns, and I am very aware of the impact diverting our future productive capacity toward debt payments will have on our ability to remain a strong and prosperous nation. But that is not relevant to this discussion today.
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The long-term structural damage to our economy, our small businesses, and our workers that we face today is unprecedented. Fiscal conservatism is not a suicide pact.
Senator Collins and I have already submitted the right solution to the problem before us: a streamlined, standalone bill that would provide $250 billion in relief in the form of a second round of PPP funds, partially offset by the existing $130 billion in the account. Such a solution would intentionally exclude other kinds of relief that lack the bipartisan support PPP has enjoyed since it was first formulated.
Senate Democrats unanimously voted against this proposal in the fall, but they will soon have another chance to do the right thing.
With winter fast approaching and coronavirus cases once again surging, American small businesses are going to be forced to fight for their lives, far more even than they did this summer and fall. Any politician who sees this crisis as an opportunity for political haggling — and not a matter of the utmost ethical and practical urgency — has forfeited his or her claim to moral authority.