The minority leader. Mr. Schumer thank you. Madam president , over the past few months, both parties have worked together to provide historic levels of funding to help Small Businesses retain employees, meet payroll, and stay afloat during the covid19 pandemic. The Paycheck Protection Program, the main instrument to help Small Business, received 349 billion under the cares act and another 310 billion in supplemental legislation. The public has know how this money is being spent. Oversight, transparency, and accountability are crucial because from the moment the administration began implementing these funds, it became clear much of it wasnt going to those who needed it most. So today we are not taking any other action on the floor dealing with covid, so we thought we would take this opportunity to ask unanimous consent to get Something Real done that should have bipartisan support on both sides of the aisle. Who can be against transparency . Who can be against accountability . Who can not want to know where close to 700 billion of the taxpayers money is going. Is it going to the right places . Unfortunately today at least 200 publicly traded companies have managed to secure p. P. P. Loans, and most of those are not very small, including some Companies Whose owners are large contributors to President Trump. Truly Small Businesses, however, hundreds of thousands of mom and pop shops with less than 20 employees, the proverbial Restaurant Owner or the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker have been mostly shut out because they didnt have a standing relationship with a big bank. There have been great disparities when it comes to minorityowned businesses. According to the center for responsible lending, over 90 of african americanowned and latinoowned businesses were likely shut out of p. P. P. Funding. Womenowned businesses have also been neglected. Now, we have tried to fix some of these problems in covid 3. 5, working closely with the senators from maryland and New Hampshire and the senator from florida, but much more needs to be done. We need data to help further inform who is being left out so we can continue to make the necessary fixes to see that all Small Businesses are helped. Now, my friends, senator cardin and shaheen, have a bill that they have worked on to do just that, so i want to thank them, and they will talk more about this bill in a moment, but i want to make one point here. This is a very simple piece of legislation. It requires the kind of transparency expected from any federal program of this size and importance. Regular public reporting of how and where taxpayer dollars are spent. This is something my republican colleagues have always believed in. So i hope that my republican colleagues wont object to this legislation when i ask unanimous consent in a few minutes after senators cardin and shaheen have spoken. I hope they wont object just because it comes from this side of the aisle. Its a good idea. Theres no reason to object to this very unobjectionable idea and get this body focused on covid, not on extraneous matters which we seem to be doing now when covid is the most important issue we face. We are doing quite literally nothing else on the floor of the senate today. There is no other business before us, no votes whatsoever. So were here to force some action, force some progress, and force some focus on covidrelated legislation. I prefer to do this in a completely bipartisan way, but from the getgo, democrats have been have had to force the issue on many Covid Response programs. The leader lays down a bill. It has no democratic input, and then of course we have to work towards that goal, and we have. And the fact that the first bill passed 960 is a tribute to this body that we can come together when there is real need. We should be doing it the same way today. We should be doing it the same way today. We should be working together for support of our health care system, protesting so desperately needed. Unemployment insurance and crucial improvements to Small Business lending. All of which democrats said we needed. Our republican friends first resisted and then came along, led by the republican leader, and all of which passed with with unanimous support. The same thing should happen said. We should pass this, u. C. It, and get the oversight that this program so desperately needs. I yield the floor to senator cardin. The presiding officer the senator from maryland. Mr. Cardin thank you, madam president. Let me thank leader schumer for initiating this discussion. Im very pleased that senator shaheen is also on the floor. The two of us worked on the democratic side with senator rubio and senator collins on the republican side, and we are very proud of the tools that we made available to Small Business. These are important tools that keep Small Businesses alive during covid19. The Paycheck Protection Program got money out quickly and helped Small Businesses stay afloat. 660 billion we have provided under the Paycheck Protection Program. The emergency Economic Injury disaster loan program, the loan and grant program, we have now provided 70 billion for that program. But heres the issue. We had to adjust both of those programs without even knowing all the specifics on how the first amount of money was distributed, and were hearing that we are going to be running out of money again soon and that congress is going to be asked to make additional changes in these programs, and we still dont know the specifics on how this money was distributed. Were all frustrated here. And i really appreciate the leadership i know my chairman is on the floor. He has been demanding this information and has been unable to get it. Were going to be asked to act again without having the specific information. Senator schumer is absolutely right. We know in the first round that those who had preferred relationships with Banking Institutions got priority. That we know. But we dont know how much. We dont know how many loans the big banks have issued and what size they have issued, what their compensation has been, and how those loan decisions were made. We need to know that because we are relying on the private Banking Institutions to make the 7a loans in all communities. You know, we expanded this program to nonprofits. That was a good thing. But we dont know how many of the nonprofits have received help under this program, the specific dollar amounts, the specific loans, the specific locations. And heres the challenge i got a call yesterday where they want to expand eligibility under this program. We know there are some difficulties in the programs themselves that need attention. There is now a desire to expand eligibility. There is also being asked what comes next . Restaurants are still ordered to be closed in my state. Theyre going to need additional help. How do we go about crafting what we need to do if we dont know whats been done already . We have been asking for this information over and over again. We havent been able to get it. Its our responsibility to oversight these programs. Now putting it from my chairman. He said i agree with him. Its our responsibility to oversight, but if we dont have the information, how can we oversight . I am concerned about underbanked and underserved communities getting their fair share of this help, and yet we dont have the specifics on the number of minority Small Businesses, the number of womenowned Small Businesses, the number of veteranowned Small Businesses. We dont know about world Small Businesses and how well they have done. We need to have that information in order to make the next judgments in this congress. And yes, we do need transparency because we have even heard from this administration that there may very well have been Small Businesses who didnt qualify for this loan that have gotten help or had their own ability to handle this crisis but yet still ask the government for these funds or may have violated the size standards that are in this legislation. We need to have that transparency for oversight. Its our responsibility. And thats why we do need to act as a senate. The legislation that we are going to bring forward is very common sense. It just tells the Small Business administration make available the information on the p. P. P. Loans, on the eidl loans, the grants, so we can analyze this, know how these loans have been made, and make the proper oversight and adjustments that we may need to make in these programs in order to make sure Small Businesses get through covid19. I just urge my colleagues lets get this done and continue to work in a bipartisan way to make sure Small Businesses in this country are protected. With that, madam president , i see senator shaheen is on the floor. I will yield the floor so senator shaheen can be recognized. Mrs. Shaheen madam president. The presiding officer the senator from New Hampshire. Mrs. Shaheen im pleased to be able to join my colleague, senator cardin, who is the Ranking Member on the Small Business and entrepreneurship Com Committee as well as minority leader schumer. Im pleased that the chairman of the Small Business committee, senator rubio, is also here because senator cardin, senator rubio, senator collins and myself all worked on the Paycheck Protection Program and the Small Business provisions that are in the cares package that we passed over five weeks ago. And im proud of our efforts to negotiate in a bipartisan way to help Small Businesses get through this crisis. Not only did we pass in that first cares package 350 billion to help Small Business, but just a couple of weeks ago, Congress Also came together to pass an additional 370 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury disaster loan programs. And our intent in passing that legislation is to deliver relief to Small Businesses that are truly hurting. Small businesses are the lifeblood of this economy nationally, really, and certainly in New Hampshire where 99 of our businesses are considered Small Business. They employ over 50 of the New Hampshire workforce. And in New Hampshire, 20,000 Small Businesses and nonprofits have received over 2. 5 billion in lowinterest, forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program. But there have been challenges. We have heard some of those stories from Small Businesses that werent able to access this assistance because some larger businesses got into the queue ahead of them. Some of those large publicly traded companies who had a relationship with their lender and so they were able to get in early. And we need information if we are going to correct the things that havent been working about this program. Thats why the legislation that senator cardin and i and senator schumer are introducing i think would be so helpful. The Trump Administration and Congress Need to be held accountable for implementation of these programs. And in order to do that weve got to have oversight as senator cardin said. Transparency is fundamental. We need to ensure that assistance is going to the Small Business and nonprofits that need it most. Senator cardin listed off a number of those companies. The womenowned companies, minorityowned companies. Well, we also need to think about those businesses that have fewer than ten employees, those mom and pop shops that really need help who may not have as long a relationship with their lender. Or may not have any relationship with a lender. All were asking for today is a measure that would provide the bare minimum that this administration should provide to ensure that these programs are functioning as congress intended. This is commonsense legislation. All it would do is require the Small Business administration to provide daily reporting on p. P. P. And eidl loans to provide more detailed weekly reports on these programs, and to make this information publicly available while at the same time protecting borrower and participant privacy. You know, weve heard the Horror Stories about problems with this program. There also have been a lot of Success Stories. But the public isnt going to know both sides of that unless there is reporting and transparency so that people know whats working and whats not working. The bill would also ensure that p. P. P. And eidl funds are reaching underserved and underbanked borrowers. It would establish an Early Warning system for the s. B. A. And for congress so we could figure out how to respond to things that werent working and when were expecting an additional funding shortfall. These proposals shouldnt be controversial. These are all things that ive heard people on both sides of the aisle talking about supporting. What they will do is allow congress to perform our basic oversight responsibilities and foster Public Confidence in the integrity of these programs. And perhaps most important, these improvements will help make sure that the limited resources that are available are getting to the Small Businesses that need them the most. So thank you very much, madam president. I yield the floor. Mr. Schumer i want to thank my colleagues not only for their eloquent remarks but their hard work. We know that senator rubio has a 2 30 appointment so senator blumenthal has graciously agreed to speak after we ask our unanimous consent request. Okay. So as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of a bill that is at the desk that would require the administrator of the Small Business administration to report on covid19 recovery Small Business programs. I further ask that the bill be considered read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there an objection . Mr. Rubio madam president . The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio reserving the right to object. Let me first begin by saying this is the first time ive had a chance to speak on the floor about the Paycheck Protection Program since it passed. I want to say this unqairveically that despite everything you read out there in my mind, i dont think theres any question by far this has been the most successful part of the cares act. To put in perspective, this is something we worked on in a bipartisan way. In less than a week it was crafted. Then the agencies had less than six days to put together the rules. Until friday, april 4, no bank in america had ever made a p. P. P. Loan. No one had ever applied for one. And the s. B. A. Never approved one. It was a massive program. If we look at the result, theyre stunning. The results that we have seen. Now, does the program have problems . Sure. I think any time that you create somethings that spends half 500 billion, 600 billion that reaches over 50 of the u. S. Economy and put together so quickly, there will be unintended consequences and ill come back to that point in a moment. I think the biggest problem its had since the very beginning that created some of the tensions read about in the press is was underfunded from the very beginning. The demand is greater than the supply, even potentially right now after second round. You know, weve heard the reports about publicly traded companies. We know how we feel about that. Im glad thats being i addressed now. I also want to put it in per spinltive. Theyve taken 23. 5 , not 35 , not 3. 5 ,. 35 of the money thats been lent. So its not like they took half the money which is what the perception thats been created out there in some of the coverage. Meanwhile that means the rest of it went to somebody who is not publicly traded. Thats an extraordinary achievement nonetheless. Im glad thats being looked at. On transparency, all valid points. Myself friday, saturday, i was really upset that we werent getting those numbers. The reason why i want the numbers is a, we want to make sure this program that we put our name on and worked hard on, all of us have, is reaching its intended audience. B, the points made here as well that to the extent that changes have to be made in any future funding, we want to make sure that future funding is targeted in the right way. But the problem is that if we so i was as upset as anybody. I hope that the agencies are watching these proceedings now and understanding why its so important that our members have accurate, detailed and regular information about how these