Business last week. And for all of those businesses still struggling, today is the day. More than 320 billion in new paycheck protection program, known as ppp loans, are going to become available today. The program set to resume at 10 30 this morning, but the head of the Consumer Bankers Association has already said that the new round of funding could run out by the end of the week. Thats if the system doesnt break down entirely. Well have more on that in a minute. I want to start with blayne alexander in atlanta, georgia. They are starting to spend their first few days under eased restrictions. What are they opening up today . Stephanie, as of today were going to see dinein restaurants along with movie theaters and private clubs join the tally of businesses that have already been open over the weekend. So i want to focus on the dinein restaurants. Thats really where were already starting to see some traffic. Were here at this jay christophers restaurant just outside of atlanta. The doors opened at 7 00 a. M. , and about 7 02 we already saw two customers inside. So the restaurants here in georgia have a list of restrictions that they have to abide by. You can kind of see behind me a blue x on that table. Thats placed on a number of tables throughout here that have to space out the tables. No more than six people per party and all servers have to wear masks, stephanie. Are any of those businesses worried that even though theyre going to be open, those are very strict rules. They cant make much money with two customers in a restaurant. Absolutely. Theres that concern and the question about will customer comes back. I spoke with a Restaurant Owner yesterday who called this essentially like a soft opening. He said what hes doing is opening his doors so he can keep some of his employees on payroll but he acknowledged he runs a small pub so its going to be difficult for people to come in. He may see a few usual consumers but not the usual crush of business. And with the spacing guidelines, hes not going to be able to serve as many people so thats really going to impact his bottom line, stephanie. All right, blay ne, thank yo. Lets go to tennessee. Allison barber is in cleveland. That diner behind you opened two hours ago. I wouldnt say crowded, but what does their new normal look like . Theyve had a relatively good trickle in this morning. A lot of regular customers. They havent seen in weeks finally coming back. But while the staff is here, most of them Wearing Masks today, the restaurant is not operating at full capacity. If you take a peek inside here, theyve taped off some of the booths to try and prevent people from sitting too close together. The owners tell me that they have taken out about half of their chairs, half of their seating to try and keep the occupancy here at or under 50 . Thats what the governor wants restaurants to do like georgia. He has issued a number of guidelines. They have actually put them out for customers to see here. But they are not requirements. They are simply something they want businesses to do. This restaurant, the little diner on first, they put out Hand Sanitizer and gloves for customers who want it. They say they are worried about opening up their restaurant today for the health and safety of their staff as well as their customers but the people who own this, they tell me they really had not much of a choice. They bought this place two years ago. Spent their entire savings to get it. Most days theyve made less than 100. They have not been able to pay their staff for weeks. Stephanie . All right. Right now id like to bring in the speaker of the house. Democratic congresswoman nancy pelosi. Thanks for joining us. I want to say thank you. You set aside 322 billion in emergency loans for Small Businesses. People across this country need it. But already today, the head of the Consumer Bankers Association said that we would need a trillion dollars to meet Small Business demand. Is this 322 billion going to be enough . Well, this is 322 billion on top of the 350 that we had done a couple of weeks before. I think its all in the execution as the secretary of the treasury says. Let us see how this works and where our needs are. First let me just say watching your report, how much we pray for everyone in our country. Those who have lost their lives. When businesses are opening, i think thats unfortunate because were not protecting the investment that we have made, but thats a choice. And i pray for those people, too that they do not get sick. So this is always very, very sad. And we have the lives at stake and the livelihoods at stake. In terms of livelihood, were all big believers in Small Business. The entrepreneurship of america. The optimism of it all. The courage to start a Small Business. And we really need to help them. So were all committed to that. We were very pleased in our last bill that we expanded that opportunity, socalled underbanked. Those who would have less possibility of being first in line with some of the banks. And so in any event, lets see how this goes. The other its all going to be happening very soon. Well see how long it lasts. We have to do other things. Its about jobs, jobs, jobs. And the issue is that we have to have state and local. We have to protect our heroes. The health care workers, the First Responders, police, fire emergency services, people, transportation, food. The Postal Service and the rest. Those are jobs, too, and when you open up your business, you want to have customers. You can have the rent paid and employees paid, and electricity utility bill paid, but you still have to have customers. So we want to, again, make sure that these people who are risking their lives to save other peoples lives are not risking their jobs as well because the state and localities cannot pay them. Its not about bureaucracy. Its about delivery of service to the american people. So we want to have a vitality throughout our economy. And then well see what the needs are. We may have to think in terms of some different ways to put money in peoples pockets. But we know that the needs are massive in terms of economically. From a health perspective, were preparing people to live without a vaccine for a year, but from an economic perspective, look at ppp. Even with all this money, were only creating solutions for two months. Two months from now, when the majority of these businesses dont open back up, then what . Well, i think we should extend the time. I think what you suggest makes all the sense in the world. And then again as we go forward, lets see what works. What is operational and what needs other attention. Others have suggested a minimum income for guaranteed income for people. Is that worthy of attention now . Perhaps so because there are many more people than just in Small Business and hired by Small Business as important as that is to the vitality of our economy. And other people who are not in the Public Sector meeting our needs in so many ways that may need some assistance as well. But were talking about the lives of the american people. Again, the pull and push of, should we open up or not . If it jeopardizes the lives of the american people, we have to handle it with care. But again, recognize the realities of it all. What is the execution of it . What is working . And what is what are we getting our moneys worth on . I think we have to look at that, too. How is the money being spent . With all the best intentions in the world, but nonetheless, we want the money to go where it needs. If i just may, stephanie, say this. Three things that i hear from the american people, from by way of my constituents, but also the constituents of hundreds of members of congress. They want our First Responder heroes to be protected. They know theyre risking their lives to save other lives, and now theyre risking their jobs. Secondly, they want their check. They want their direct payment check, their unemployment check, or they want their Small Business the ppp check. They want their check. And third, they dont want any of this hundreds of billions of dollars that were injecting into the economy that some of which goes to major corporations, any of that money to be use forward anything other than keeping people in their jobs. They dont want any buybacks, corporate, whatever, dividends, bonuses, ceo pay, the rest of that. That really angers the american people. Its sort of a hangover from the great recession. So it is important that we have oversight to see exactly how all of this is spent. Not in a pointing a finger a just to make sure Everybody Knows that there will be transparency and there will be accountability. I agree with you wholeheartedly, but then i have to impress upon you, its the governments responsibility to do that. As it relates to ppp, its the media who has outed all of these companies who took the money. It was the media who talked about hedge funds and private equity firms taking the money. The government sets the rules, maam. Yes, we passed the law but the executive branch puts forth the advisories and the regulation. When i suggested to the secretary of the treasury some of the concerns we have about what you have just described, he said, well, im the one who put out the list. They would not have known that had i not put out the list. So i guess that was his way of saying, lets all take a look at this as we go forth. But we really i mean, these dollars are precious dollars. They make a world of difference. Life and death to the survival of a company, for some companies. And others really dont need it that much. And we have to take a look at how banks are compensated. They get a higher percentage for a small loan. If you get 5 on a 50,000 loan, thats a lot less than getting 1 on a 5 million loan. And again, is that right . Shouldnt it just be a flat fee . And others, just to subject everything to the scrutiny that needs to be done for the taxpayer dollars and how they are spent. Thats what our job is all the time. But at this time, where there is such need and such desperation, even more so. So again, well have to keep exampling. I think we have to do what we need to do. Others are talking about the oh, the National Debt. They never talked about the National Debt when they spent nearly 2 trillion for a tax bill to get 83 of the benefits to the top 1 in our country. And im a im pay as you go. I dont like building the National Debt, but a lot of what were doing is stimulus. Unemployment insurance is stimulus. Food stamps are stimulus, even though lets break down we cant get them to agree with us on that. Lets break down all of these issues. The idea last week that angered so many people is that Bigger Companies with other access to capital were using ppp. But the idea of ppp is the paycheck protection program. And if you no longer want some of these larger businesses in there, what are you going to do, a, to help them and, b, you know theyre going to lay off thousands and thousands of workers, especially restaurant chains. So should there be a solution for them . Well, look, i come from a city of san francisco. Hospitality we have a diversity in our economy in san francisco. Hospitality being a very important part of it. But its important in many places throughout the country, actually throughout the whole country, as im finding out. And we really do have to address that, but as if they are not being able to get the same kind of Small Business loan, perhaps in some cases, again, as you said, we have to extend the time. But in some cases, we have to also perhaps expand it to 1,000 people rather than just 500. That would help some nonprofits, which we hope would be able to participate in all of this. But they are larger in number and lower in pay that they pay people. Theres some limitations on what can be done in that regard. Ive spoken to the chairman of the fed about that and, of course, secretary of the treasury. So lets just put it all down there. Subject it to the harshest scrutiny. Where these dollars are going and what is it in there that is in a sense of decency that the banks and the bigger businesses who really dont need it have deeper pockets, a longer survival capacity than some of the Small Businesses which will be gone. As you said, longer than two months. Many of them will disappear, never to return from what they are telling me. So again, we all join together for ppp. We believe in that, but we want to make sure it works. Without a doubt. If we scrutinize it after the fact when time is so essential, we could lose businesses and right now were arguing over which businesses need it most with the exception of just very few businesses, most industries across the country are in desperate need. Do we have to start to focus and say, does the federal government need to just take over payroll, create mortgage deferment or just say we need to create a National Economic holiday until its safe because right now, were bickering over who is suffering more. I dont think its bickering. I think its a legitimate discussion of, again, when we passed so you had the leader of floor debate on our bill we passed the other day on there saying, we could have done this two weeks ago. No, we couldnt have. They could have agreed to the additional. They had 250. We brought it up to 480. What we brought up to 480 it had 100 billion for hospitals and testing in there which is essential to our opening up. Testing, testing, testing. But we also had 120 billion for smaller businesses which are getting left in the shade. And that just wasnt right. So it isnt a question of bickering, its about establishing priorities and we have a difference between our parties. The gentleman you interviewed, mr. Brady, he said we could have done this two weeks ago except they had extra curricular stuff. Extracurricular stuff . 100 billion for hospitals and testing . 120 billion for Small Businesses . More in terms of the loans which are flying out the door because theyre easier to get for businesses. They have a longer a longterm and a low Interest Rate so theyre very appealing. And the grants that never do have to be paid back. In addition to 250 billion more for ppp. So we have to be smart about this. They could have agreed. What they rejected two weeks before, they passed unanimously in the senate and overwhelmingly in bipartisan way in the house. Every bill we have passed has been bipartisan. But weve had to make the case about lowincome, smaller cases, women, minority. We dont want to put any prioritize anybody over anybody else because its about jobs. Its about jobs. No matter where you work, its about jobs. So if that Business Needs the infusion to keep people on the job, then thats what this is about. But it also has to not ossify any disparity of access to credit in our country, which does exist. So we want everybody to enjoy the vitality of it all. And every single dollar passed is desperately needed, but i do want to ask. You had said on friday that you were disappointed that the banks didnt act as better stewards. My question is twofold. Banks are going to protect themselves because thats what they have to do. And they asked the government to release them of some of their risk review requirements because if what the banks did was give loans very quickly to borrowers who they didnt know if those werent good loans, those banks could be on the hook months from now. If the government wanted it done differently y wouldnt the government do it itself . The irs, they know how to collect our money. They could give the money out. Well, it was a decision that secretary of the treasury made to go through the banks for facilitation. Perhaps it would be faster to do than to go through an sba, a Small Business administration process. I dont want banks to make billions in this. They are facilitators and this should be something we go forward with in a very positive way. It is interesting, though, that they get make a lot of money off of it and, therefore, it could affect their behavior. But what i had said is with the fact the sba has kissed this loan, there is no risk. There is no risk. And as well as the fed enabling them to pardon me there is. If i may, the reason for the delay, if i may, the reason for the delay, the banks need to do a risk review process. After they do that, they then go to the sba. One of the main reasons for the holdup, banks didnt have to do a very long risk review for clients they already knew. Thats one of the reasons it went so quickly. For new borrowers, it took some more time. So they are on the hook before they go to the sba. These banks lived through that in 2008. They didnt make good decisions and paid for it after. If they did that again, theyd get annihilated. In 2008, they were part of the problem. I dont see that this time. Let me say that thats why it was hard to understand why our republican colleagues were not embracing our initiative of 60 billion that would go to Community DevelopmentFinancial Institutions so those institutions, the neighborhood, know the community, know the customers, know the businesses, know the culture would be able to make loans, smaller loans, into the community. And take alleviate some of that from the banks. I thought it was really something that they would welcome because, therefore, those who know that that Community Better would be meeting their needs. Without a doubt. Thats why im so pleased well, that 60 billion, will they get to go first when the portal opens up again . Will they get to go before the big banks to make sure the money goes to the small borrowers . Well, this is like two different funds. And the secretary has been very working very hard in my view when i talked to him about it. Working it so that these portals, or whatever, are for that community. So its not a question of going fast. The 250 is already going to the ppp. This is additional and specific to that community. But also, 50 billion in idle loans, emergency loans, and that is 50 billion leveraged to over 300 billion in loans. And that is very Popular Pro