Daily Local News, 04/18/2020 - Houlahan offers virtual forum for small business owners
By Jen Samuel
WEST CHESTER — U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-6th, of Easttown, brought together business leaders during the representative’s sixth virtual town hall in wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Approximately 500 small business owners and employees called in to take part during the live conference called held Thursday evening.
Keynote speakers on the call along with hostess Houlahan included representatives of the Eastern Pennsylvania Small Business Administration, district director Steve Dixel and deputy district director Michael Kane and John Hess, the chairman of SCORE in Chester County.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our community’s economy,” Houlahan said. “Our community’s small businesses need access to capital, and they need it now.”
The congresswoman told callers she stood ready to return to Washington, D.C. to vote in favor of the continuation of emergency “vital” funding for small businesses.
“Any sort of legislative package must address your concerns and provide the resources our small businesses need in order to survive,” she said. “We don’t have hours. We don’t have minutes.”
Also last week, Houlahan reached out to leaders of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate requesting that congressional attention be given to the unique needs of micro-businesses in Pennsylvania as they try to weather this crisis. This includes sole proprietors and business owners, with 20 employees or less, still hoping to gain access to federal emergency funds.
Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, on Tuesday sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the U.S. House; and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Charles Schumer in the U.S. Senate.
In the letter, Houlahan advocated for the smallest of businesses in American society to have equal access to capital through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and Paycheck Protection Program, and via any additional emergency assistance available to others.
During Thursday’s virtual town hall, small business owners asked the panel and congresswoman fiscal questions ranging from unemployment benefits to emergency loans.
Masterpiece Multimedia founder Mike Baskin asked the panel for support from Congress to hold insurance companies accountable, noting his long-term provider had determined that the ongoing crisis, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, was not a covered catastrophe under its existing disaster policy.
Jennifer Moorehead of Science Explorers shared a similar concern that companies are denying claims on longstanding business interruption insurance policies. “I’ve also had insurance for 20 years,” she said. “After getting a $50,000 premium notice this year, (I) was told that ‘virus’ was an exclusion.”
Federal lawmakers are working to refund the Paycheck Protection Program which ran out of money last week. Congress created the fund via the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which provided $349 billion to cover operational expenses from payroll to rent and utility costs.
“Anybody who applied after Sunday (April 12) was left out of getting funding for the PPP,” said Brian Connolly of Chesapeake Manufacturing in Downingtown.