Sen. McSally: PPP money not for big banks, give money to small businesses now
Arizona Senator Martha McSally discusses the Senate passing $484 billion phase 3.5 stimulus relief bill.
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Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., has a message for large banks who say they will only do business with large companies under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP): "The PPP money is not yours."
Appearing on "Fox & Friends" with hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade, McSally said Wednesday that the emergency stimulus package was meant to distribute money to small businesses and not give Harvard University $8 million or benefit big finance.
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"And look, when we passed this legislation we said, 'What's the fastest way to get the money out to these small businesses? And, really the words of the day were speed, also grace, good faith, and selflessness, right?" she mused.
"We are all in this together as Americans. We decided to use the financial institutions to more quickly get the money out," McSally explained. "I tweeted out yesterday: 'Dear big banks, the PPP money is not yours. It's the taxpayers' money and it needs to go to Mom and Pop shops.' They need to go to mom and pop shops...[Banks] are just passing through. They're just processing it. This isn't about their relationships with others who have plenty of access to capital."
"So, you big companies out there: give the money back. Support your workers," she urged. "You big banks out there: you get that money out to those mom and pop shops -- those one-person businesses.
"That's why we chose to do it this way," she continued further. "Do the right thing."
McSally also told the "Friends" hosts that her neighborhood and state's small businesses may not survive if they cannot get access to relief quickly.
"They've poured, like, their life savings into creating their businesses. That's what this program was designed for," she concluded. "So, we need to do everything we can to make sure they get the support they need."
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A source within the Small Business Association (SBA) told Fox Business on Wednesday that the original PPP bill did not exclude publicly traded companies or limit the market cap size of companies and that any company under 500 employees that showed any loss due to the virus qualified for PPP money.
In addition, the source reported that the SBA did not prioritize any businesses, but that banks made lists of who received funding first and that another round of loans could flow to small businesses as soon as this weekend assuming President Trump could sign the new bill by Thursday night.
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