Solely $1.6 billion stays in a federal program to assist small companies impacted by hurricanes and pure disasters — sufficient funding for just a few extra weeks with out emergency intervention by Congress. A number of Biden administration and congressional sources informed CBS Information there are issues funding might be depleted by the tip of this month.
The remaining pot of funding within the Small Enterprise Administration’s catastrophe mortgage fund is being severely strained by the injury of Hurricane Helene, CBS Information has discovered, and the Small Enterprise Administration has obtained at the very least 3,000 purposes each day since Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast. One administration official mentioned there may be not adequate cash to final till Congress’ scheduled return to Washington after the November elections.
Congress failed to incorporate further funding for the catastrophe fund when it handed a short-term spending invoice to fund the federal authorities in September. Though there may be optimism that adequate cash stays to assist offset the prices of the Federal Emergency Administration Company till Congress returns through the week of Nov. 12, there are rising issues that the Small Enterprise Administration catastrophe cash will run dry.
In a memo to Republican congressional leaders Friday, President Biden mentioned, “I warned the Congress of this potential shortfall even earlier than Hurricane Helene landed on America’s shores. I requested extra funding for SBA a number of instances over the previous a number of months, and most lately, my Administration underscored that request as you ready a unbroken decision to fund the Authorities. Now the necessity is much more pressing.”
A spokesperson for Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer mentioned he “is awaiting assessments from businesses working diligently on the bottom.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat who was a state emergency administration official, informed CBS Information, “Congress ought to have been proactive on these problems with funding the Small Enterprise Administration and FEMA earlier than we went on a monthslong recess in the midst of hurricane season.”
Moskowitz says he is introducing an emergency invoice to spice up funding for the Small Enterprise Administration packages.
An aide to Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, informed CBS Information that Scott spoke with President Biden concerning the want for Congress to swiftly reconvene and approve new federal help to answer Helene’s destruction.
“Whereas I do know from my expertise with earlier hurricanes that FEMA and SBA injury assessments take time, I’m at the moment urging Majority Chief Chuck Schumer to instantly reconvene the U.S. Senate when these assessments are accomplished in order that we are able to cross the clear supplemental catastrophe funding invoice and different catastrophe aid laws,” Scott mentioned in a information launch.
Small Enterprise Administration catastrophe loans supply assist for losses and damages that aren’t coated by different insurance coverage. The company says its loans cowl injury to property together with equipment, fixtures, stock of merchandise and tools. Mortgage repayments usually are not required to start within the first 12 months after the mortgage is issued. Federal catastrophe loans are additionally curiosity free for the primary 12 months, they usually carry no pre-payment penalties.
In line with federal officers, in 2023, the SBA lent practically $3 billion to catastrophe survivors nationwide — together with over $670,000 for small companies and over $2.3 million for owners and renters — to assist them get better from the monetary and bodily impacts of artifical and pure disasters.
In a letter final week, a bipartisan group of senators from the hurricane-impacted states of Florida, Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina wrote, “This may occasionally even require Congress to come back again in October to make sure now we have sufficient time to enact laws earlier than the tip of this calendar 12 months.”
A spokesman for Home Speaker Mike Johnson, responding to questions from CBS Information, referred to a remark Johnson made on “Fox Information Sunday.”
“We’ll be again in session instantly after the election. That is 30 days from now,” Johnson mentioned. “The factor about these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is that it takes some time to calculate the precise damages, and the states are going want a while to do this.”
Congress has beforehand permitted a few of its less-controversial measures with out requiring the return of all of its members to Washington, D.C, together with its effort to cross aid for Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
