Theyre expected to adhere to these standing rules, including decorum. With that said, during the period, the committee will operate in accordance with hr 965 and specific guidance from the rules committee in a manner that respects the rights of all members who participate. House regulations require members to be visible throughout a video connection during the proceedings. So please keep your cameras on. Also, if you have to participate in another proceedings, please exit this one and log back in later. In the event a member encounters technical issues that prevent them from being recognized for their questioning, i will move to the next available member of the same party and i will recognize that member at the next appropriate time slot, provided they have returned to the proceeding. Being interrupted by technical issues, i will recognize that member of the next appropriate spot for the reminder of their time once their issues have been resolved. In the event a witness loses connectivity during testimony or questioning, i will preserve their time while the staff addresses the technical issue. I may need to recess the proceedings to provide time for the witness to reconnect. Finally, remember to remain muted until youre recognized to minimize background noise. In accordance with the rules published from the hr965, staff have been advised to mute participants in the event theres an add ver tant background noise. Should a member wish to be recognized, they must unmute themselves and seek recognition at the appropriate time. Thank you. Since february the outbreak of covid19 has taken a significant toll on the entire u. S. Economy. This crisis has hit americas Small Businesses especially hard. Three out of four Small Businesses have been experiencing a decrease in revenue since march. And an estimated 7. 5 million Small Businesses are at risk of permanent closure as a result of this crisis. As members of this committee and as legislatures at the federal level, we have a responsibility to secure funds to help americas Small Businesses survive this crisis. So far, congress has allocated over 669 billion in grants and loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic InjuryDisaster Program also known as idle. They intended the programs to provide immediate relief for businesses. But as we approach august, we cannot ignore the reality that the covid19 pandemic has morphed into much more devastating and extensive crisis that even some experts anticipated. And the rhetoric coming from this administration downplaying the seriousness of covid19 undoubtedly left many states to rush to open to reopen ultimately exacerbating the problem. As we push forward to heal as a nation and find better days ahead. We can start by examining the policies adopted during and in the aftermath of the Great Recession as a model moving forward. While we must recognize the differences in these two devastating events for our nation, we must also remember that back in 2008, the outlook for Small Businesses were similarly uncertain. In response to the Great Recession, congress has passed a series of bill that provided 1. 2 billion for Small Businesses through the sba lending programs. This critical step unlocked tens of billions of dollars in guaranteed loans to Small Businesses that could not otherwise Access Capital when traditional credit markets froze. Policies enacted then proved to be a critical lifeline for thousands of Small Businesses in danger of closing their doors. At the same time, the Obama Administration focused on how Small Businesses could help contribute to americas recovery by accelerating and unlocking capital for the nations smallest and youngest businesses. This money was well spent as Small Businesses were some of the largest contributors in the recover. Especially minorityowned and womenowned businesses who alone were responsible for the addition of 1. 8 million jobs from 2007 to 2012. The nations investment in entrepreneurship paid off. The United States saw more than 550,000 new businesses open since 2011 and the economy continued to grow. Because of the economic contributions from small employers and independent contractors, after the Great Recession, it is imperative for this community to explore these proposals and how we can modify them for the covid19 era. I also welcome any discussion of any new inside brought to the table by members to address the challenges our Small Businesses are facing today. Whether it is utilizing traditional sba programs or instituting innovative ideas, longterm recovery requires us to think out of the box but also come together in a bipartisan fashion to provide relief to small employers. As Congress Works to explore additional ways to help america reopen and recover, i hope we continue to prioritize the smallest of Small Businesses, minorityowned and womenowned businesses. The ones that help rebuild our nation the last time we found ourselves knee deep in what felt like an insurmountable crisis. Again, i want to thank the panelists for joining us here today and i now yield to the Ranking Member for his opening statement. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you for holding this hearing today. On this committee, we know how important Small Businesses and startups are entrepreneurs are to the economy. However, one of the consequences of this Global Pandemic is that our main streets are in very real danger of longlasting damage or in the worst case, permanent closure. Some have warned we could be in only the beginning of the worst wave of Small Business bankruptcies and closures since the great depression. We must be proactive and effective in our attempts to not only sustain but recover and expand the influence of americas Small Businesses and main streets all over the country. Recent research from universities such as harvard, the university of chicago, the university of illinois and others have found that some Small Businesses, especially micro enterprises may be the most susceptible to permanent closure. We must Work Together and listen to those like our witnesses here today who know and appreciate that critical segment of our economy. As communities reopen, we hope to find solutions that lead to fewer headlines indicating Small Businesses are closing and focus more on the recovery on which we are about to embark. I look forward to the testimony of all of our witnesses here today and to our continued participate on this committee and i thank the chairwoman for working with me and our side of the aisle in making this the most Bipartisan Committee in congress and thats why were so effective in, for example, putting together the ppp program and trying to reform the idle loan program and so many other things. I want to thank the chairwoman for her continued cooperation and yield back. Thank you. Thank you, Ranking Member. Its a pleasure. Now, i would like to take a moment to explain how this hearing will proceed. Each witness will have five minutes to provide a statement. Please ensure that your mic is on when you begin speaking and that you return to mute when finished. With that, i would like to thank our witnesses for taking time out of their busy schedules to join us. Our first witness is mr. Brett palmer. Mr. Palmer served in the executive branch from 2002 through 2005 as a president ial appointee in the commerce department, assistant secretary for legislative affairs and as Deputy Assistant secretary for trade legislation. He holds a history degree from dav davisson college. Our second witness is ms. Coin. Shes a chef and owner of dirt candy, the awardwinning vegetation restaurant in new york city. The restaurant was the first vegetable restaurant in the city and its a pioneer of the vegetableforward movement and is included on the list of the ten restaurants that change america. She received two stars from the New York Times and was recognized by the guide five years in a row. Dr. Cook is a professor of economics at the Michigan State university. Prior to joining the faculty at Michigan State, she was a senior economist at the president s council for economic advisers. She also held positions at the Federal Reserve banks of minneapolis, new york, philadelphia, the world bank, the Brookings Institution and the hov the hoover institution. I would like to turn it over to the Ranking Member to introduce our last witness. Thank you very much again. And our final witness is a fellow cincinnatien. Pete blackshaw. Hes ceo of centrifuge, a startup created by p and g and western southern and other major entities in our community. He previously served as global head of Digital Marketing and social media at nestles global headquarters. He recently served as chairman of the board of the National Council of Better Business bureaus and is chairing a recently chartered supply chain and new commerce restart committee. Pete is a graduate of Harvard Business school and the university of california santa cruz. I recently had the pleasure of meeting with pete via an Online Platform with the Cincinnati Chamber of commerce and i was truly impressed with his forwardthinking ideas on the recovery. I hope he was impressed too on the call. But i know he will provide valuable insight to the committee and i look forward to hearing all of the witnesses here today. I yield back. Thank you, mr. Chabot. Thank you all for being here today. I know like to begin my recognizing mr. Palmer for five minutes. Thank you, madam chairwoman. Thank you to the committee for giving me the chance to share our view on how the companies can reaccelerate the recovery. Sbics provide longterm capitol into american Small Businesses. For many, but not all, our economy was doing well prior to the pandemic and the shutdowns. The disruption has exposed preexisting problems faced by the nations Small Businesses. It is also created new ones. These amplifications affect vast numbers of Small Businesses but the pain is not evenly spread by geography, industry sector, substantial of business or even race. Its also important to remember that the job losses in business injury we have experienced are the firstorder effects of the pandemic. Theres more coming. We just dont know what. We know what good Public Policy can do to help bring the economy back and to benefit more americans. Now is the time to improve programs to make sure they provide maximum benefit to as Many Americans as policy. Policy adjustments should be made to adjust the needs of Small Business in the way that takes into account past efficiencies. Instead of normal stimulus spending, congress has the chance to focus on the long term and to amplify the private sector that provides sustainable benefits to communities by utilizing the program. Our economic programs will be long lasting but access to Patient Capital is the core to many of the solutions to the challenges that we face. Improving the program should address some of these problems that previously existed. Challenging accessing Patient Capital which is acute in rural areas and more acute for equity capital. Large disparities in accessing startup and growth equity, underinvestment in manufacturing and domestic production, underrepresentation by women and minorities in both funds and in Small Businesses access in capital. There are too few small funds which provide smaller investments and communities. Through a host of new problems as well. Massive unemployment, failure of many Small Businesses and some estimates are that 22 of Small Businesses are now out of business. The cnational catastrophe. The american entrepreneurial spirit is strong but the Small Businesses will need to access Patient Capital. Its longterm debt and equitilike debt that can sustain the fits and starts. We need to remove unintentional barriers to minorities and women. And more sbic funds that need to be formed that are smaller in serving more parts of the countries. So the sbas framework is a good one. But this experience is a very different experience in the last recession and need a tailored response to meet both the old needs that were unfulfilled and the new needs. Modifying the existing programs is faster and more effective than a lot of other things we could be doing. Sba proposes a couple of changes, not creating a new program. We would ask congress to authorize a onramp to forming more figures time sbics. It would remove unintentional barriers to minorities and women while provided dollar investments across the country. The sbic program should be modified so they can provide the most job creating capital, equity. The library of congress looked at the sbic program, they found that Equity Investments commonly created over 400 or sometimes over 500 new jobs per investment and we need those jobs. There are also existing sbic tools that prohibit capital but theyre currently limited by geography. These restrictions should be lifted and made available to all Small Businesses. Sba should encourage sbics to look for opportunities to make investments in underserved communities when making additional available. And finally, it would be very helpful if the office of innovation would be fully staffed. Theyve been held back for years and i think theres an opportunity for us to do more and that would be a longterm investment to provide longterm investments. I would like to thank the committee for having a hearing last fall. It was an Oversight Committee that i have not seen in 25 years. Its been very helpful. Its been transformative and positive. Its really turned around and doing great. Thank you for your oversight. Thank you for this hearing. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, mr. Palmer. And now i would like to recognize ms. Coin. And let me remind members, you need to keep your cameras on. Distinguished members of this committee, thank you so much for inviting me in to testify today about my experience with the Paycheck Protection Program, the experience of other independent restaurants and what this Industry Needs to survive the rest of the year and beyond. My name is amanda cohen. The chairwoman has been a longtime advocate for Business Owners like me and im honored to appear as a voice for so many voiceless businesses. Dirt candy has about 40 seats and a bar. We started back in 2008 with just 18 seats but quickly outgrew our first location and in 2015 we moved to this new one on the lower east side. Im also honored to represent the Leadership Team of the independent restaurant coalition. A coalition of thousands of chefs from across the country in any Congressional District organized for the first time in response to the pandemic. We represent americas nearly 500,000 restaurants, nearly three quarters of all dining establishments in the country who dont have the same access to significant debt instruments for private equity as corporateowned businesses. Today im going to share the story of independent restaurants, how we use the ppp and what we need to do to survive. Dirt candy reopened a week ago today for outside seating. Outdoor dining has forced us to dramatically alter or menu. A number of our dishes are not conducive to heat, wind and rain and our seating is on a ramp which really isnt the most romantic location. I wasnt able to pay my employees during the shutdown. Many went onto unemployment or took other jobs. I received a paycheck protection loan, i chose not to use the money at the start because it was unclear when we could reopen again. If my fixed costs of running a business dont change and demand for dining out remains low, theres absolutely to way dirt candy can candy can survive. Going out to a restaurant is not considered to be safe. When the pandemic hit, i laid all all 35 employees at dirt candy. About six weeks ago, i rehired one person to help get the restaurant ready to reopen. As of today, i have only rehired 17 or six of my employees. And i dont plan on rehiring others for the foreseeable future. This was only possible because of the ppp. In fact the changes to the Effective Date of the ppp that this c