October 15, 2020 Press Releases

FACT CHECK: Shaheen’s PPP Program Helped Save NH Small Biz During Pandemic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2020
Contact: Ally Livingston, alivingston@jeanneshaheen.org

At today’s debate, Republican U.S. Senate candidate “Colorado Corky” Messner lied about Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s record of delivering small business aid to New Hampshire during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attacks on Shaheen’s family have been disputed by Republican Senators, including Marco Rubio (R-FL), who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, and said: “Congress plays no role in who gets a loan and who doesn’t…If you qualified for the loan, you got one. If your business qualified for the loan, you got one. It wasn’t like Congress was deciding who got a loan and who didn’t.” [Washington Post, 6/26/20]

In New Hampshire, more than 24,000 small businesses received more than 2.5 billion dollars from the PPP program and helped keep 206,000 Granite Staters employed.

FACT: Jeanne Shaheen has led bipartisan efforts to save NH’s small businesses during the pandemic, and was praised by Republican Senators for helping save local businesses.

  • When the pandemic hit the U.S. economy, Shaheen was named as one of four Senators on a bipartisan team charged with developing the small business relief in the COVID-19 economic stimulus bill. [WMUR, 3/20/20]

  • The bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that she helped create has delivered more than $2.5 billion to New Hampshire small businesses and helped keep hundreds of thousands of Granite Staters on a payroll. [Small Business Administration, PPP Loan Data, 8/8/20]

  • After creating the PPP program, Shaheen has led efforts demanding transparency in the program.

    • In April, Shaheen called for the SBA to release a list of all businesses that received PPP loans. [Union Leader, 4/27/2020]

    • In early May, Shaheen called for oversight hearings on the implementation of small business programs in the CARES Act (including the PPP program) and introduced legislation to require the SBA to report additional data on COVID-19 relief programs. [AP, 5/6/2020]

    • Shaheen has continued to call for transparency and oversight throughout the pandemic. [Twitter, 6/5/20] [Twitter, 6/3/20] [Shaheen office, 6/5/2020]

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