Joseph Robinette Biden

“ Getting our economy back means bringing our small businesses back. And that’s what we’re going to do. That’s what I’m doing today. We’re going to focus. The program ends at the end of March, but for the next two weeks, the only folks who can apply for that PPP money are businesses with fewer than 20 employees. ”

“ These small businesses — not the ones with 500 employees, but these small businesses that, with a handful of folks, they are 90 percent of the businesses in America. But when the Paycheck Protection Program was passed, a lot of these mom-and-pop business just got muscled out of the way by bigger companies who jumped in front of the line. ”

“ I invite any inspector general in this program, with jurisdiction over this program, to closely look at these loans and report — publicly report on any issues they uncover inconsistent with what I’m saying today. We will ensure every dollar is spent well. These changes will bring much-needed, long-overdue to — help to small businesses who really need help staying open, maintaining jobs and making ends meet. ”

“ That includes a letter, I might add, from more than 400 mayors from big and small cities, Democrat and Republican. They agree we have to act and act now. They understand we’re not going to get our economy back in shape and the millions of people back to work until we beat this virus. ”

“ Major economists — left, right, and center — here and abroad say we should focus on smart investments that can make jobs available and focus on the jobs and in the people to prevent lo- — prevent long-term economic damage to our nation and to strengthen the economic competitiveness going forward. ”