Originally published in MyChesCo

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — On Friday, Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) hosted her sixth Coronavirus (COVID-19) Telephone Town Hall. The focus was on her community’s small businesses, and about 500 small business owners and employees dialed in.

To help provide the most accurate and up to date information for her community’s small business owners, Houlahan convened Steve Dixel, the District Director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Small Business Administration, Michael Kane, the Deputy District Director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Small Business Administration, and John Hess, the Chairman of SCORE in Chester County, for the call.

During the call, Houlahan also addressed the lack of PPP funding:

“Like many of you, I am very frustrated that some in Washington are seeming to be playing politics with these critical resources,” said Houlahan. “Small businesses are the backbone of our community’s economy.

“I have made clear to House and Senate Leadership that our community’s small businesses need access to capital, and they need it now. I stand ready to return to D.C. to vote to continue funding this vital program.

“Any sort of legislative package MUST address your concerns and provide the resources our small businesses need in order to survive. We don’t have hours. We don’t have minutes.”

Earlier in the week, Houlahan pushed House leadership to pay special attention to the unique needs of our micro-businesses as they try to weather this crisis.

Houlahan and her team have been working with many sole proprietors and business owners with 20 or fewer employees to help them gain access to Federal assistance.

In a letter to House and Senate Leadership, Houlahan advocated for the smallest of businesses in our communities to have equal access to capital through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and Paycheck Protection Program, as well as any other emergency assistance.

The full text of the letter can be found here.