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Washington, D.C.— Today, the House Small Business Committee, under Chairwoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), held a remote hearing examining the administration of crucial small business pandemic relief efforts. During the hearing, Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabel Guzman updated members on the progress the agency had made on improving pandemic programs and the challenges facing entrepreneurs in the wake of the COVID crisis.
 

“Though the pandemic may be receding, we must continue to work as a Committee to see small businesses to the end of this crisis and help facilitate a strong recovery,” said Chairwoman Velázquez. “Today’s hearing will give us an excellent opportunity to closely examine the challenges and benefits of the federal programs that are guiding small firms to the next phase of recovery.”
 

For over a year, America’s 30 million small businesses have suffered through a once-in-a-lifetime crisis. Congress has appropriated over $1 T worth of funding towards emergency small business relief programs to combat a record wave of small businesses closures since the pandemic began. During the hearing, Members had the opportunity to survey SBA’s management of COVID-19 relief programs and hear from the Administrator about the challenges facing small businesses in the wake of the pandemic. 
 

During her testimony, Administrator Guzman updated the committee on the status of critical small business relief programs and detailed progress that SBA had made on making agency initiatives more equitable. 
 

-Administrator Guzman testified that as of May 24, the Restaurant Revitalization Program (RRF) had received more than 362,000 applications – with a total of $75 billion in funding requested. She further testified that more than 208,000 of those applications came from small businesses owned by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, who were given priority access to the program.
 

- Administrator Guzman testified that as of May 24, the SVOG program had received 12,841 applications for $11 billion in requested funds.
 

- Administrator Guzman testified that as of May 23, SBA had approved more than 6 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans totaling $273.7 billion in 2021 alone, with 95% of those loans going to Main Street businesses with fewer than 20 employees.
 

- Administrator Guzman testified that to date, SBA had processed more than 3.3 million lender forgiveness decisions or more than 60% of 2020 loans, totaling $279.4 billion -- greater than 99% received full forgiveness.
 

Click here to watch the hearing in full.

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