The American Bankers Association joined three other trade groups in a letter to House Rules Committee leaders this week urging them to include an amendment in the next COVID-19 relief bill that would provide funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s business and industry guaranteed loan program. The amendment was offered by Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.).
The groups warned that the B&I program is expected to exhaust its current funding in the coming months and faces a projected $1 billion shortfall in loan authority this fiscal year. The noted that “a small allocation of approximately only $10 million” could resolve the shortfall, and also urged lawmakers to extend similar relief to producers with USDA Rural Development guaranteed loans as they did to existing SBA borrowers in the CARES Act.
