Outbreak of covid19 has led to an unprecedented Public Health crisis and a dire economic crisis. We have lost over 110,000 people to the disease, and 40 million remain unemployed. Back in february as the band that it was worse, we knew we needed to take action to help our Small Businesses survive the economic downturn. We started working with the sba and governors around the country to leverage the sba disaster resources available. Can you please mute . Anyone should be muted. Everyone should be muted. As the virus continues to spread, or state and local governments began imposing stayathome orders and business closures. We quickly realized Congress Needed to do more to meet the full scope of the problem, and that is when we started working on what ultimately became the cares act. To help Small Businesses and eligible nonprofits, congress created a new Paycheck Protection Program, expanded eligibility to the program and provided payment and interest relief for current sba borrowers. I worked tirelessly to secure 10 billion in funding to create a new eidl Emergency Grant Program which were designed to get money into the hands of struggling Small Businesses quickly. Borrowers could request a loan advance of up to 10,000 within three days of applying that needs not to be repaid even if the applicant was eventually denied the eidl. And due to the Unprecedented Demand for the program, congress infuse another 10 billion into Emergency Grant Program and an additional 50 billion in the loan program as part of the Paycheck Protection Program and healthcare enhancement act. Congress salaries and expenses to hire staff, upgrade technology and ultimately respond to demand in a timely, efficient fashion. Despite these steps and more than three months after Congress First enacted legislation to provide Economic Relief to the Small Businesses, borrowers are still significant challenges idle grants and loans. One example, idle loans maximum loan size of 2 million we learned that sba impose a maximum loan size of 150,000, shortchanging millions of Small Businesses. Unfortunately we also learned that sba is limiting the crucial grants to 1000 per employee. And some are not even receiving the grants at all which is simply unacceptable. This [inaudible] could have for Small Businesses that need help the most. Weve also heard that the sba has not communicated effectively with applicants know or has a provide them with reliable to check the status of their application to applicants need to know where they stand in the queue to approximate how much longer they can expect to wait to receive financing. And given the current economic climate, if they are going to be denied, they deserve timely action so that they can explore options for capital elsewhere. These are just some of the reports the committee has received where the sba administration of the eidl program in the current covid19 era. As the committee undertakes its oversight duties, we want to begin by hearing directly from Small Businesses who have applied for the program so that we can understand the successes and challenges they have experienced. However, in order to fully perform our work we also need to hear from the Small Business administration. Without their appearance and testimony before this committee, it would be difficult to make additional changes to the agencies program. Earlier today administrator carranza testified before the senate Small Business committee, and it is my hope that she will testify before us soon as well. With that i look for to hearing from our witnesses about their perspective on how congress can keep working to improve the eidl program and where we should focus our oversight efforts. I now yielded to the Ranking Member for his opening statemen statement. [inaudible] can you hear me now . Yes . Thank you very much. Thank you, madam chair for holding this important hearing relative to the sba is eidl loan program. Before i begin my comments i i would like to comment about the virtual format were having here today and i certainly do not hope that should hold you responsible for this but i think the speaker should have the house of representatives in session. With off a lot of important work to do. Obviously relative Small Businesses but there are still many other issues the country facing right now. Congress ought to be together. We represent the american people, and dealing with these various challenges that our nation has before us, we ought to be here. I happen to be in washington right now in my office because im also on the Judiciary Committee and we have a hearing going on as i speak with relative to the tragic killing of george floyd and the aftermath of that. I was there this morning. After i give my Opening Statement i actually have to go back there because ill be asking questions shortly here. But again, i dont hold you responsible, madam chair. I think tremendous job. I would prefer if you with the Ranking Member rather than the chairman but we both exchange those positions on occasion over the years that i think youre great job. But congress should be in session and i cant emphasize that strong enough. Relative to the eidl loan program, it operates within the sba is Disaster Loan Program and was already up and running as we know long before the covid19 slipped across the globe. Support the note that a Disaster Loan Program has had its trouble in the past but it was consistently making improvements. Created by, it supposed be a regional that provides assistance to Small Businesses after a disaster, covid19 has presented numerous challenges to the program. The economic downturn caused by the Coronavirus Crisis completely overwhelm the eidl program. As the crisis unfolded, the lines of communication from the sba the businesses about the eidl program unfortunately has deteriorated. Additionally, the total loan amount and the grant amount available in the program continue to be uncertain. These hurdles and roadblocks have impacted the Small Business ability to make important and critical decisions during these uncertain times. Thus far, the programs provide assistance to over 1 million Small Businesses all across the country to the tune of approximately 80 billion. In my home state of ohio its provide over 25,000 loans for a total of over 1. 7 billion. Today communication is slowly improving but certainly more work needs to be done and i commend you, madam chair, are holding this hearing in order to assist us in getting that job done [inaudible] we obviously sent a letter together in a bipartisan manner just recently urging the sba that they have a lot of things they have to improve on. Its medically important that we have this discussion to understand how Small Businesses have fared during this crisis and how congress can work to make improvements. Throughout this entire crisis i joined dozens in my house colleagues on Conference Calls in town Hall Meetings and a whole range of calls, conferee calls with Small Businesses in their districts. Questions on the eidl program were raised on a great many of these calls. Obviously their principal interest within the ppp, the Paycheck Protection Program, but the eidl loan program is still there and dramatic improvement is needed. Congress has worked in a bipartisan manner to improve the Paycheck Protection Program. We must now Work Together to ensure that the eidl program is operating efficiently and effectively for Small Businesses during this pandemic, and following. I look forward to discussing solutions and next steps with all of our Witnesses Today. Its important we move forward with practical reforms that deliver for Small Businesses. In my district and your district and districts all across the country. Madam chair, i mentioned all in my Opening Statement i have to go back to the floyd and judiciary hearings so i will be heading over there. Im not sure if i will be back in time for the question our ottawa to thank you for link this hearing, and i yield back. Thank you, mr. Charlotte. What i have for you, you may have to wait a little longer mr. Cavett. Okay. Go from ranking to chair. [laughing] i would like to take a moment to explain how this hearing will proceed. Each witness 15 minutes to provide a statement and each Committee Member will have five minutes for questioning. Please make sure your mic is on when you begin speaking and you return to mute when finished. With that i would like to thank our witnesses for taking time out of their busy schedule to join us. With us today we have ms. Nancy sexton, the owner of the muse rooms in the los angeles area. After a career in the arts she received her in august 2015 and taught herself how to write a Business Plan to get started. In just four years for business successfully grew in two locations right before covid19. She applied for an eidl but encountered many of the challenges that have been reported with the program. Ms. Sexton, thank you for joining us today and for sharing your experience. I now would like to recognize the vice chairman of the committee to and reduce our second witness. Thank you, madam chair. I like the sound of that. Mr. Jerome whack is a a pharmat and the owner of christian strret pharmacy located in the diverse neighborhood of south philadelphia. He has owned and operated the pharmacy since he graduated from army to school 33 years ago. Mr. Whack is a lifelong resident of philadelphia where he attended two of my districts many excellent colleges, Temple University and Unity College of philadelphia. I could not ask for a greater representative from my district to speak to the Small Business committee on this important topic. I command your commitment to serving and supporting the amazing citizens of philadelphia, and thank you for pets fading participating in this hearing. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Evans. And now id like to recognize mr. Schneider of illinois to introduce our third witness. Thank you, madam chair. It is my great pleasure to introduce my constituent dr. Craig gerstein and to thank him for sharing his perspective with us today. Dr. Gerstein lives in Highland Park and has is practice ophthalmology in the chicago area for the past 20 years and he will share that story in the moment. He runs the Gerstein Eye Institute joined with his father who started the practice more than 50 years ago. Dr. Gerstein earned his medical degree from chicago medical school. In addition to his practice he also serves as an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University medical center. I have known him for many years and appreciative sharing his perspective as a Small Business owner, navigating both the complexities of this pandemic but also the challenges he faced with the eidl mode. Thank you for joining us today, craig. Thank you come mr. Schneider. And now i would like to turn it over to mr. Bishop to introduce our last witness. Thank you, madam chair. Our next witness is karen kerrigan, the president and chief executive officer and thought Leadership Council also known as the sbe council. Ms. Kerrigan has multiple decades of advocating for Small Businesses and the entire Small Business ecosystem with an expertise in startup funding in business growth. She serves on numerous boards and coalitions. Ms. Kerrigan, welcome. Madam chair, i yield back. Hanky. Now i would like to recognize ms. Sexton for five minutes. Thank you, madam chairwoman and the entire committee on Small Business trust me to come in today and share with you the challenges that i faced when applying and receiving the eidl loan. And like you said, my name is nancy sexton and it own Owner Operator the muse rooms, coworking space in hollywood california. Im not from ellie. Is born and raised in ohio. I was in new york for almost 12 years and i lived in italy for four. Ive had a lot of great a call to shoot my outside of mirroring my husband, nothing is make me proud opening the muse rooms. Just lino the muse rooms is a coworking space and we provide a workspace for entrepreneurs, creators and Small Businesses. We offer desk space offices and meeting rooms. The muse rooms started with my dick in august 2015 and within 3 months we opened. We were so successful that that summer we decided to open our second location in burbank and then were able to go back and expand our first location and within four and half years with expanded to 14,000 square feet with over 120 members. Then covid hit. We shatter our doors on march 17 prior to mary karr said hes stayathome order. Mayor garcetti here how can you charge somebody if they cant use your service . The sba announced their loans and then worked with the l. A. Network to get all my ducks in a row to apply because there was a ton of paperwork that was required. On march 23 i started the eidl loan process and this is when i started uploading my documents. Over the course of the next seven days i was on hold for more than 25 hours and i had uploaded my application. I had faxed it, emailed it and each time i was told no, no, no hear youre doing the wrong thing. Finally on the 30th i was told you just had to go to this new portal, super easy, itll take five minutes. You dont even need documents. Some went to a new portal and it was super easy. So easy in fact, that i didnt even get an email confirmation that i had applied. I was smart enough to write down my loan number so when i called back i had a point of reference. When i called i was always told look, these are the next steps. Youll get an email, or log in to the portal and you can talk to somebody. They will look at your documents and they tell you how much money youre going to get and it should be two and half times the monthly bills. Remember, im not making any money and my bills are stacking up. On the 21st of april i finally received my advance. It was only a grand because i dont have employees. I was super psyched because my neighbor next door, he had already gotten funded and he received more than what he thought. So over the next ten days i called several times wondering what was happening because nothing was being communicated. No emails, no answers. When you called you get a different answer each time. Now on may 1, my credit was bold and i get really excited. I got two landlords with her hands. I have no income. I called i get the same story. Youll get an email, talk to somebody, submit loan documents. Dont worry. May 16 i got that email, and when i logged in to see the amount that was being offered, it did not even cover one month of my expenses. So i called and i was told by the woman on the phone, she read a statement to me or people who were calling in requesting more money than what was being offered. And she told me this, that in order for all businesses to get a little money, they were limiting the amount distributed. Remember, this was when it was supposed to be giving up to 150k. I was taken aback, pretty upset. I had no one to talk to. I couldnt call anybody and no one to plead my case two. So the sba eidl loan that i thought was going to save my business has now put me in a position that guarantees that i am going to have to close one of my locations. And i dont know how long that will last. The stress of covid was bad enough. Seriously, this sba loan experience, the 58 days of not knowing anything, on top of covid, this has been the most stressful period either experienced, ever. Its been horrendous. Look, my entire business is built on Customer Service. Good communication is king, and let me tell you, without that, youre sending businesses into absolute chaos, and and i thanu for my time. Thank you, ms. Sexton. Your time has expired and now we recognize mr. Whack for five minutes. Hello. Can you hear me. With yes, we can hear you. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before your committee today. And i do apologize for the problem im having with my camera. Im very computer illiterate. My son set this up and, of course, today its not working. It worked last night. We did a dry run. But i would just like to thank you and you just basically highlight the testimony that i wrote and i hope you have in front of me. Very quickly, as congressman dwight evans stated, im a longtime resident of philadelphia, pennsylvania. I came here very john as an infant with a great migration from the south. My folks were from south carolina. They left after my father got out of the navy after world war ii, came to philadelphia. He wanted to have a better life for me and my other Seven Brothers and sisters. Ive been here at christian strret pharmacy since