Scalise: Reopening and Recovery Are Critical

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican Whip and Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Steve Scalise (R-La.) opened today's Select Subcommittee briefing on "The Unemployment Pandemic: Addressing America's Jobs Crisis," with remarks praising the American people's spirit and determination to get back to work.

Whip Scalise detailed the successes of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which saved millions of jobs and small businesses. As of June 12, the program, which Congress has continually worked to improve, approved over 4.5 million loans, totaling over $512 billion in emergency funds. Whip Scalise also addressed the long road to recovery and demanded the subcommittee investigate wrongdoing by the Chinese government in the early stages of the coronavirus crisis, as well as decisions by a number of governors to return contagious COVID-19 patients to nursing homes.

Remarks as prepared for delivery:

"Mr. Chairman, I want to express my condolences to two of my colleagues, Jim Sensenbrenner, on the loss of his wife Sheryl, and Andy Barr, and the loss of his wife Carol. We send our prayers and loving support to them and their families at this difficult time. I also extend my sympathies to Congresswoman Omar, who recently lost her father to COVID.

"Mr. Chairman, thank you for calling today's hearing. The American recovery has entered a new phase. Back in March and April, the country decided to shelter in place to stop a novel, unknown virus from overwhelming our health care system and costing needless loss of life. By necessity, that period required the government to step in and provide relief. And we did. President Trump and bipartisan majorities in Congress quickly enacted the CARES Act, along with other relief measures. The Paycheck Protection Program did just that – protected paychecks and saved millions of jobs.

"The average PPP loan amount is less than $120,000, which means the majority of loans went to small businesses so they could keep paying their employees. As of June 12, there are more than 4.5 million PPP loans approved totaling more than $512 billion.

"Lenders of all shapes and sizes – including community banks, credit unions, and large banks – participated in the program, allowing the PPP to reach small business borrowers in every state and territory. More than 5,400 lenders have participated to date. The majority of those (3,567) have less than $1 billion in total assets, which means most PPP lenders are local community banks that serve exactly the job creators we set out to help.

"The program reached far and wide, including underserved and historically disadvantaged areas. 424 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) participated in the program. Those firms issued almost $16 billion in PPP loans to their small business customers, many of which are in distressed areas.

"The PPP will continue to be an important resource moving forward. President Trump just signed legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support to further strengthen the PPP's ability to save jobs and help small businesses through this difficult time.

"But America was not built to shelter in place. Americans do not hide in the face of crises. Americans want to work. Americans want to care for their families. Students want to return to school. Our children want to play with their friends. And Americans demand the freedom to build a more prosperous country with greater upward mobility and equal opportunity for everyone who seeks it.

"America has quite naturally entered a new phase – a recovery phase – led by the energy, hopes, and determination of the American people. The American people helped create 2.5 million jobs in May – completely shocking the "experts" who predicted 7.5 million job losses, shattering post-WWII records. Retail sales had the biggest one-month increase ever, rising 17.7%.

"Make no mistake. We have a great deal of work to do. Over 40 million people filed for unemployment since the shutdown began. As we have discussed in previous briefings – the steep economic costs were not born equally. Low-income Americans have suffered disproportionally. 40 percent of individuals earning less than $40,000 lost their jobs. A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the number of open black-owned businesses fell 41 percent, Hispanic-owned businesses fell by 32 percent, Asian-owned businesses fell 26 percent, and immigrant-owned businesses dropped by 36 percent.

"Re-opening and recovery are critical to better lives. Unemployment insurance can provide temporary relief but it cannot provide upward mobility.

"The recovery must include a resurgence of made-in-America manufacturing. We have learned that too much of our PPE came from China – and China has hoarded PPE while lying to the world about the spread of the Coronavirus. We can make ourselves better prepared while creating new jobs. This subcommittee could help by investigating what China did to try and corner the market for PPE, while lying about the virus's dangers.

"The House Foreign Affairs Committee minority staff just released a 42-page report detailing China's lies and cover-up. Why hasn't this subcommittee demanded to hear from the Chinese Ambassador? Americans died because of the actions of the Chinese government, but the Members on the majority side seem uninterested in accountability or exposing the facts.

"Last week, my Republican colleagues and I raised the disturbing specter of the deadly decision by a handful of governors to force COVID-positive patients back to nursing homes, in contradiction of CMS guidance. Those decisions led to thousands of unnecessary deaths. The governor of New York recently resorted to name-calling to try changing the subject, rather than being transparent and answering our questions. But, Mr. Chairman, no one has disputed the facts that we raised last week. PolitiFact even fact-checked Governor Cuomo's excuses and said they were false.

"I once again ask that this Committee hear from those governors who violated CMS guidelines, resulting in thousands of unnecessary nursing home deaths. We owe it to our nation's seniors to get to the bottom of what happened – so we can prevent it from ever happening again. I yield back."