Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who offered up the GOP proposal, said on the Senate floor, “we need more funding and we need it fast,” adding, “I want to add more money to the only part of our bipartisan bill that could run out of money.”
“My colleagues must not treat working Americans like political hostages,” McConnell said, “We must not fail them.”
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said that Democrats recognize that more money is needed for the program, but argued that further action is needed beyond just boosting the funding. “All of these requests are urgent,” the senator said, adding that he believes they could be dealt with on “a bipartisan basis.”
“Let’s get it done and let’s get it done right,” he said, asking that the Senate pass an amended version of the bill that would include the Democratic demands. McConnell voiced an objection, however, blocking the request, while Democrats blocked the majority leader’s initial request to pass a clean funding increase.
After launching the program less than a week ago, the Treasury Department asked Congress on Tuesday for another $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, a federally-backed loan program intended to help business owners keep their enterprises afloat amid the global pandemic. The rollout has been far from smooth, and with so many applications coming in, Treasury is asking for more money now in an effort to assure business owners waiting in line that the money will be there.
But Senate Democrats — who unanimously backed the program when it passed last month — argue any legislation to increase funding for Small Business Administration loans must include other provisions as well, including money for hospitals on the frontlines of combating coronavirus and $150 billion in funding for states and local governments. Democrats have also asked that half of the money for SBA — $125 billion — be steered to community lenders to ensure underserved communities are getting loans.
Negotiators from both parties are now expected to discuss how to proceed as congressional leaders have said they would most likely want to pass any legislation without requiring the majority of lawmakers to return to Washington, meaning both sides would likely need to be in agreement about the process before proceeding.
Lawmakers are back in their home states on recess as the pandemic sweeps across the country and, as a result, any effort to greenlight additional funding for the loan program would need to take place by unanimous consent, which can be blocked if any senator objects, or by a voice vote, which would not require all members to be present.
In one indication of continued disagreement between Senate Republicans and Democrats, Sen. Marco Rubio, a GOP senator from Florida and the chairman of the Small Business Committee, issued a statement rejecting the idea of guaranteeing money would go to specific lenders.
For Democrats, there’s pressure to back the Small Business Administration program that, despite a rough start, has seen widespread participation. In a call with Republicans, Mnuchin touted that $90 billion in loan applications had been approved and another $100 billion was being processed.
But Democrats are not the only ones with concerns. Republicans and Democrats alike have voiced frustrations with the program’s glitches including the fact that many lenders were waiting days to get final guidance on how to disburse the loans. On Monday, the portal lenders use to upload loan application information to the SBA crashed. And several members have reported frustrations from small business owners who struggled to find a lender willing to offer them a loan if they were not already an existing customer.
“If you don’t fix what is fundamentally wrong with the program, throwing more money after bad is not going to help small businesses,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a moderate Democrat from Florida, told CNN about frustrations she’s been hearing from constituents. “We have to try to make the changes be a condition of handing over another quarter of a trillion dollars.”
If the Senate is able to pass an increase in funding, the measure would next need to go to the Democrat-controlled House.
This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.
CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this story.