Wall Street Journal
No More Paycheck Protection
By Editorial Board
April 16, 2020
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For seven long days, Democrats have been blocking a $250 billion refill for the Paycheck Protection Program, and on Thursday morning the loan fund finally ran out of money. “Every Senate Republican was ready to act today,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday. “But Democrats would not let us reopen the program.”
On Thursday the Labor Department said another 5.2 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. That brings the total in four weeks to a mind-bending 22 million. The Paycheck Protection Program is meant to blunt this trauma, and so far it has approved 1.6 million forgivable loans to small businesses.
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In a joint statement Monday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for “further changes” to the Paycheck Protection Program, plus “significantly increased” funding for disaster grants and loans, plus “additional support” for the food-stamp program, plus “adequate funding” for nationwide virus testing and personal protective equipment, plus “the collection and publication of demographic data” so that “we can accurately determine the level of impact on under-served communities and communities of color.”
Identity politics and the social pork barrel trump jobs and business solvency.
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The longer Democrats refuse to provide financing for small businesses after government cut off their revenue, the more Americans will have every right to conclude that Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer are responsible for the worsening economic destruction.
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