Lawmakers negotiating the next small-business rescue package are facing mounting pressure to direct more aid to minority employers who are hurting the most during the pandemic but have struggled to access billions unleashed since March
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"We got off to a bad start for the underserved communities," Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Small Business Committee, said in an interview. After overwhelming demand for the Paycheck Protection Program exhausted its initial funding by mid-April, Congress passed a second, $320 billion appropriation that set aside money for the smallest lenders. Some of those funds went to lenders whose mission is working with disadvantaged communities.
The last-minute change gave Altimont Wilks time to secure a loan to help his businesses in Hagerstown, Md. A federal judge last week ordered the Small Business Administration to reserve funding for Wilks once the program shut down. Wilks was initially barred from the program because of a 2004 felony conviction.
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