Jovita Carranza

Opinion contributor

On Friday, April 3, the U.S. Small Business Administration launched an extraordinary $349 billion capital distribution program to stabilize small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, 1.6 million forgivable loans have been approved by the agency, and the entire fund has been depleted.

To put that in perspective, the SBA processed more than 14 years worth of loans in less than 14 days. Paycheck Protection Program disbursements began hitting small business accounts almost immediately, and we expect to make hundreds of thousands of additional disbursements in the next week.

The PPP is working, even if it hasn’t been glitch-free.

A month ago, it would have been unfathomable to imagine that a relatively small federal agency like SBA could erect a loan program the size and scale of PPP in just one week. The dedicated professionals at SBA worked around the clock, almost exclusively from remote locations, to stand up the program three days ahead of the 10-day deadline stipulated in the CARES Act.

Since then, the work hasn’t stopped. The SBA has been working day and night, seven days a week, to add capacity and to identify and correct technical challenges. We are working with the Treasury Department to provide legal and regulatory guidance to thousands of financial institutions and, most important, to maintain the overall functionality and stability of the program.

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The SBA created a simple, two-page application for borrowers. The agency rolled back administrative requirements so that more lenders can participate in the program. Two weeks ago, 1,800 financial institutions were authorized to make PPP loans; today, there are nearly 5,000 authorized lenders.

The PPP has not been perfect, but thanks to the president’s leadership, the efforts of the Treasury secretary, the support from our nation’s financial institutions, and the heroic efforts of the men and women of the SBA, it has provided 1.6 million small businesses with the financial certainty they need to remain viable and keep their employees on payroll until this storm passes.

Jovita Carranza is administrator of the Small Business Administration.

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