With Congress pumping another $310 billion into the Paycheck Protection Program, there are fresh questions about if the money is going where it should and whether the big banks are playing by the rules.
Political reporter Christopher Heath spoke to U.S. Rep Michael Waltz, R-Fla., about the money and questions of misuse.
Heath: Do you think this is enough money considering many banks have said this money is already spoken for with applications that are waiting?
Waltz: That’s a great question, and one of my concerns is that we are now up to over half a trillion dollars and for this Paycheck Protection Program and I’m hearing that loud and clear from the businesses all over North and Central Florida. I’m worried it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the overall national need.
One of the businesses waiting on this money is Orlando restaurant Too Much Sauce. Restaurant owner Evan Dimov said he needed $35,000.
His loan was approved, but not funded since, according to federal data, the biggest small businesses took the majority of the money.
“There absolutely needs to be oversight. There was already a number of oversight provisions put into the original CARES Act, a committee, House and Senate bipartisan has been named. There is an inspector general that the president has nominated I think there will subsequent hearings as Sen. (Marco) Rubio has mentioned,” Waltz said.
One of the loopholes that was exploited in the first round remains. A small business can qualify so long as it doesn’t have more than 500 employees at any one location. That’s how a coal mining company and major restaurant chains got money the first time around.
This browser does not support the video element.