Democrats’ oversight bill blocked by Republicans

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Senate Committee Chairman on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Senator Marco Rubio blocked Democrats’ attempt to pass an oversight bill which mandates the administration officials to submit new reports on how the small-business aids are dispersed.
• Rubio pointed out that lawmakers should work alongside SBA to get essential data and not overburdened the administration officials by submitting reports since it could have “unintended consequences.”
• Senate’s Minority Leader Senator Charles Schumer said passing the bill could further improve the program while another member of the committee, Democrat Senator Ben Cardin commented that lawmakers are still unaware where the money actually goes.

Senator Marco Rubio, chairman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, blocked Democrats’ attempt to pass a bill that would mandate the White House to submit new information on the dispersal of the small-business aid program.

Rubio pointed out that the details being requested by the Democrats were not compulsory in the federal funding application and that Congress should align with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to obtain necessary information.

“Some of the demographic data is not on the application. It’s not even clear that they would be able to produce that for us unless they stopped the process, created a new application and then began to process that as well,” he said.

The senator asserted that lawmakers should work alongside SBA so administration officials won’t be overburdened by paperwork requirements which could have “unintended consequences.”

Democrat legislators attempted to pass a bill that would have established new oversight requirements for the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Any one senator could try to pass a bill by unanimous consent, though any one senator could also object according to the Senate’s rules.

Around $660 billion loan grants had been passed by the legislature under the Paycheck Protection Program for small companies.

Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate’s Minority Leader, argued that the additional information they could get could further improve the program.

“About demographic information, I understand the problem, but there are a lot of ways to skin that cat. If we looked at zip codes, we might be very well, easily able to tell demographic information,” Schumer said.

Senator Ben Cardin, a democrat member on the Small Business Entrepreneurship Committee, said that even he was glad about the small-business aid programs, lawmakers are still unaware how the money is being dispersed.

“We’re all frustrated here, and I really appreciate the leadership. I know my chairman is on the floor. He’s been demanding this information and has been unable to get it,” Cardin said. “We’ve been asking for this information over and over again, and we haven’t been able to get it,” he added.

According to a senior Democratic aide, the proposed bill would require daily and weekly reporting on the funding under the small-business programs — including data on geography, demographics and type of industry.

Source: The Hill