Saving Seafood

SBA expands PPP loan eligibility to more fishing vessel owners

June 26, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Treasury and the Small Business Administration announced on Thursday, 25 June, that commercial fishing vessel owners are now eligible to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

The loan program is a COVID-19 relief initiative designed to enable small business owners to keep workers on the payroll as the coronavirus impacted their operations. The loans can be fully forgivable if the recipient uses at least 60 percent of the funding toward paying workers.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Enactment of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act

June 10, 2020 — The following was released by the United States Department of Treasury:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza issued the following statement today following the enactment of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Flexibility Act:

“We want to thank President Trump for his leadership and commend Leader McConnell, Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy for working on a bipartisan basis to pass this legislation for small businesses participating in the Paycheck Protection Program.

“We also want to express our gratitude to Chairman Rubio, Ranking Member Cardin, Senator Collins, Congressman Roy, Congressman Phillips, and other members of Congress who have helped to create and guide our implementation of this critical program that has provided over 4.5 million small business loans totaling more than $500 billion to ensure that approximately 50 million hardworking Americans stay connected to their jobs.

“This bill will provide businesses with more time and flexibility to keep their employees on the payroll and ensure their continued operations as we safely reopen our country.

“We look forward to getting the American people back to work as quickly as possible.”

Read the full release here

Fishermen, small seafood businesses seek more federal COVID-19 relief

May 5, 2020 — More than 200 independent fishermen, seafood businesses, and their advocates sent a letter on 4 May to members of the Trump administration and key congressional leaders urging them to help the struggling industry, and make them aware of the plight smaller ventures face due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The letter thanks the officials for their efforts so far, including the USD 300 million (EUR 276.8 million) in disaster relief assistance provided in the CARES Act. However, they added that more is needed to offset “the unprecedented losses” suffered recently, and what they expect will happen in the coming months.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

JESSICA HATHAWAY: Stimulus update: Cashed out

April 23, 2020 — The historic addition of unemployment benefits for self-employed and contract workers — fishermen included — was a necessary change in the way we support our critical infrastructure as we peer down the barrel of this pandemic.

Now, almost a month out from the passing of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package, most fishermen are finding that they may still be left out in the cold.

The Paycheck Protection Program was funded with $349 billion slated to secure jobs for millions of Americans working for small businesses.

One of the hangups with this program was that it was never set up to allow applications with 1099s — the tax form most fishermen use. Even a boat owner with regular, year-round crew couldn’t get coverage for the crew the way the program was set up.

To top it off, most of the banks that are approved to process these types of federal loans and applications are big banks. They deal primarily with bigger businesses, the kinds with lawyers on retainer and accountants and payroll managers.

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

Despite Trump’s plan, US restaurants struggle to remain open

April 20, 2020 — Despite a Trump administration plan to gradually reopen restaurants in the United States, many foodservice owners and operators don’t believe they will last through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In a new survey, nearly 80 percent of independent restaurant owners said that government stimulus assistance provided in the CARES Act will not prevent the nation’s 500,000 independent restaurants from shutting down permanently.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine fishermen among small business owners hoping for new paycheck protection funds

April 20, 2020 — When the $350 billion in funding for the Paycheck Protection Program ran out, many Maine fishermen were among those waiting in line. Congressional leaders are working on an agreement to be voted on this week that would reload those funds.

“I’m crossing my fingers that that will occur,” Senator Susan Collins told News 8 Sunday, after a conference call with lead negotiator on the talks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Sen. Collins said negotiations on roughly $350 billion in additional funding for the program she co-authored would continue Sunday night, ahead of votes in the Senate on Monday and the House on Tuesday.

“I strongly support adding more funding to the PPP and will keep pushing to make sure the process is fair, clear, and efficient,” Sen. Angus King said in a statement Sunday.

Sen. Collins says she hopes to extend application deadlines in the new agreement beyond the current date of June 30th, because some who were self-employed had to wait.

“The Small Business Administration, which is not used to dealing with people who are self-employed, had them wait an extra week,” Sen. Collins said. “And thus, by the time many of the fishermen or carpenters or plumbers or hair stylists in our state applied, the money was out.”

Read the full story at WMTW

Top House Republican Backs Adding Hospital Funding to Small-Business Package

April 17, 2020 — The top House Republican said he would support adding money for hospitals to funding for a popular small-business aid program, pointing the way to a potential breakthrough in stalled talks with Democrats on the current round of stimulus spending.

In an interview, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said he would pair hospital funding with an additional $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, a small-business loan program that exhausted its initial $350 billion allocation money on Thursday.

Both Democrats and Republicans want to add funding to the small-business aid program, but have been sparring for days over the makeup of that aid and what else to include in the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Democrats want to expand access to the loans as well as include more money for hospitals, food assistance and state and local governments. Republicans, meanwhile, had said they want to keep the bill focused on increasing small-business aid and defer other funding debates until broader legislation is crafted.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal