President Donald Trump is urging swift passage this week. The Senate approved the bill Tuesday and the House planned a vote on Thursday.

Most of the funding, $331 billion, would go to boost the Paycheck Protection Program – a small-business payroll loan program administered by the Small Business Administration and which ran out of money last week. Reports have shown that hundreds of millions of dollars from the funding program had been claimed by large, publicly traded companies and drew criticism from both sides of the political aisle.

However, when asked by WRFA about large corporations using federal aid intended for smaller business, Chautauqua County’s representative in Congress, Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning) defended the move by larger companies to tap into the program.

“This virus has impacted the entire U.S. economy – that’s large business and small business – and so everyone has been impacted. Large businesses have a lot of employees, have a lot of vendors, and a lot of businesses working for them, so you can have the trickle effect all the way through the economy articulated,” Reed said. “So to say ‘large businesses are bad, small businesses are good’ is not something I will engage in. All businesses need relief.”

Reed went on to acknowledge that some smaller businesses do see a more disparate outcome in the funding process but it wasn’t by intention. He also said that the latest funding proposal would have additional parameters in place, including giving more of the money to smaller community banks which in turn, could pass it on to the smaller, more rural businesses across the country.

In addition to more business aid, the package would also include $100 billion for health care. It would not, however, include any supplemental aid for local governments stressed by the COVID-19 crisis. Instead, that aid would likely be taken up in a future coronavirus funding bill.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

BUFFALO – Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will be in Buffalo Monday to push for bipartisan legislation known as the Investing in America’s Small Manufacturers Act.

Gillibrand says the legislation would increase the availability of affordable loans for small manufacturers through the Small Business Administration’s loan guarantee programs.

The bipartisan legislation would increase the loan guarantee limit for loans to small manufacturers, eliminate a penalty that new manufacturers are required to pay when applying for an SBA 504 loan, eliminate loan fees for loans under $350,000, and cut loan fees in half for larger loans.

Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi

JAMESTOWN – Mayor Sam Teresi is joining communities across the nation in supporting Small Business Week – starting Monday and continuing through May 13.  The recognition is in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

To help promote small businesses in the city, the mayor has issued a proclamation in an effort to encourage residents to support small, locally owned and operated businesses and Greater Jamestown Region. The proclamation will be filed with the SBA’s Buffalo District Office.

As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and others from all 50 states and U.S. territories.

According to U.S. Small Business Administration, more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business. Those small businesses create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

Congressman Tom Reed (NY-23) is announcing that Jamestown has been selected as the location to host the 2015 Manufacturing Summit.

According to a release from the Congressman’s office, the program will allow businesses to discover programs and resources available to help them expand into the global marketplace, discuss challenges and solutions with other local manufacturers and learn more about pro-business initiatives provided by the Department of Commerce, Small Business Administration, the Export-Import Bank and Empire State Development.

Other who plan to be on hand include Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27), Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-05) and Export Import Bank Chairman and President, Fred P. Hochberg.

Reed is encouraging all regional manufacturing businesses to attend the event, which is taking place in the Scharmann Theater at JCC and Cummins Engine Plant on Thursday, May 28.

Any local manufacturing business interested in attending should contact the congressman’s office.