According to a new report from Politico, the Trump administration’s plan to bail out small businesses with loans intended to help them pay their employees may soon blow up in their faces — an unsurprising possibility given the dumpster fire that has been this administration’s response to the massive pandemic since day one.
The loans outlined in the $350 billion lending program as part of the Trump administration’s coronavirus stimulus package are set to soon be distributed to small businesses across the country and expected to be handed out by banks. However, many banks are rapidly sounding the alarm on the plan, warning that it’s a recipe for disaster.
The Politico report explains that banks are complaining that “Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin boxed them in with an unrealistic deadline and that the ground rules they’ve been given for the program, which is intended to deliver rapid aid to a huge number of ailing businesses, could delay the assistance for weeks or longer.”
Politico goes on to note that, according to their sources, “Some fear a disaster that could dwarf the failed kickoff of the Obamacare enrollment web site in 2013.”
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Given the mind-boggling, record-breaking rates of unemployment claims over the past two weeks, as more and more companies are forced to lay off their employees as a result of the massive outbreak of COVID-19, it’s undeniable that these small business loans are absolutely imperative not only to this nation’s economy but to the individual Americans who are desperately trying to figure out how to make ends meet during this global catastrophe.
However, banks are warning that things aren’t as simple as they sound when it comes to these loans that are set to be distributed soon. According to many of them, one of the biggest issues they’re facing is the need to verify that these businesses were, in fact, operational on February 15th of this year and that they’re steadily maintaining their payroll obligations.
“Banks say the verification requirements could lead to substantial delays in issuing loans — a mandate that could create a lag of weeks or more as they establish the necessary procedures,” the report reads. “They are seeking greater assurances that they won’t be held liable if a borrower obtains a loan after providing misleading information.”
Once again we find ourselves facing the fact that if the president had actually acted when he should have, we wouldn’t be worried about the entire country falling to pieces.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
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