Democrats call themselves the "party of fairness," but they are being unfair to America's workforce by blocking additions to the Payroll Protection Program aimed at helping small businesses retain their workers until they are able to open their doors again, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Friday.
"The only debate here is that Democrats are delaying this," the California Republican said on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria." "We just passed the CARES Act. There is $130 billion for hospitals; $30 billion is already out. "There's $150 billion sitting in there for states...in the small business, we're trying to keep people hired."
The small business program allows companies to apply for a loan, and if 75% of it is used to hire and pay employees, the money becomes a grant, said McCarthy, but the $349 billion allocated to it ran out on Thursday.
"We knew more than a week ago that we would run out of money so the administration requested more," said McCarthy. "It didn't need any more change to it, just replenish something that is successful. So we went to the floor to add it, one page. The Democrats showed up, where it could have been passed just by unanimous consent, to object. They wanted to object to even make it more difficult for a small business to gather this loan."
If more money is needed for hospitals or states, "we will add it," said McCarthy, but right now, what's needed is money for workers.
"This is a one-page bill. This doesn't change any policy,' said McCarthy. "It is a program that is working better than we've watched any time before. There's more than 5,000 banks now approved."
Part of the president's plan to reopen the government is ensuring businesses can open in a safe manner, he added, but Democrats are delaying "something that is proven that has worked."
Meanwhile, he said he thinks President Donald Trump's plans for reopening the country are "thoughtful."
"We will defeat this virus even though we didn't invite it here, and we'll defeat it because the ingenuity of America is able to take this on together," said McCarthy.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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