WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Representative Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) helped pass the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act. This legislation includes a number of priorities that Houlahan has been advocating for on behalf of her community, including PPP funding set aside for small and community banks to ensure PPP loans make it into the hands of those for whom this program was designed—the smallest of businesses upon which our economy is built. It also includes robust funding for hospitals and health care workers on the frontlines of mitigating the spread of this pandemic, expanded eligibility for EIDL to agricultural producers, and a requirement for a comprehensive, national testing strategy.

“Today’s bipartisan bill will provide much needed relief to our hospitals and health care workers and will support our small businesses to help them weather this crisis,” said Houlahan. “I’m proud to have taken aggressive action to ensure that items were included in this bill that are of specific concern to my community: support for our smallest of small businesses, resources for our hospitals in Chester and Berks counties, expanded eligibility for EIDL for our farmers and agricultural producers, and a requirement for a comprehensive national testing strategy. I have laid out a bipartisan plan for how to implement such a national testing strategy and will continue to work with the Administration to build the workforce we need to carry out this effort. We need to safely reopen our economy, and to do so, we must implement a testing strategy quickly and effectively. This legislation we passed today is by no means an end to our efforts. I am disappointed, for instance, that there was not support for struggling local governments and municipalities. We need a more wholistic response, and I will be pushing my colleagues to support such a response in our next package. We are in this together, and we, the federal government, need to do everything in our power to support the country through this pandemic.”

The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act includes:

·       $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program with $60 billion set aside for small and community banks and lenders to help our micro-businesses access these crucial resources

·       $75 billion for hospitals and other health care providers for COVID-19 related expenses, including PPE for frontline workers, or lost revenue attributable to COVID-19

·       $50 billion for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program and $10 billion for EIDL emergency grants

·       Expanded eligibility for EIDL to include agricultural producers

·       A requirement for the Administration to submit to Congress a COVID-19 Strategic Testing Plan within 30 days