Senator Collins Calls on Colleagues to Pass Legislation to Keep Workers Paid and Small Businesses Afloat Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic
Click HERE to read Senator Collins’ remarks.
Click HERE to watch Senator Collins’ remarks. Click HEREto download high-resolution video.
Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senator Susan Collins spoke on the Senate floor this evening to urge her colleagues to support the Phase 3 coronavirus funding package, which includes her legislation that would help employers to stay in business and keep paying their employees.
As a member of the Small Business Task Force, Senator Collins has worked closely with Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Jeanne Shaheen D-NH) on legislation to provide relief to small businesses. The Keeping Workers Paid and Employed Act is a $350 billion emergency economic relief plan that would provide federally guaranteed emergency loans to small businesses that are experiencing a sharp drop in revenue due to COVID-19. These loans would be forgiven so long as employers keep their workers employed and paid.
“Every day, I have heard from small business owners who are anxious about the future of their businesses and how they can continue to pay their employees, who are often their family members, their friends, and their neighbors. The last thing they want to do is to lay off their employees and shut their doors, but they fear they may have no other choice,” said Senator Collins. “When these small businesses suffer, it has a cascading effect on their employees, from housekeepers to wait staff to bartenders to fishermen to drivers to retail clerks.”
“It is essential that Congress act immediately without partisan bickering to protect workers’ paychecks and provide other relief to supplement the earlier bills that we have passed,” Senator Collins continued. “I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put aside partisan differences and come together and join our bipartisan group in delivering this urgently needed aid for the American people by passing this important economic relief for the employees of small businesses throughout our nation.”
