U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) joined U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and a group of Senators in urging U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Isabel Guzman to extend the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) repayment deferment period for small businesses in New Hampshire and across the nation.

SBA EIDLs are low-interest loans available to eligible small businesses. EIDLs provide eligible small businesses a loan up to $2 million, with a repayment term of up to 30 years. The loans can be used to pay for expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred, including payroll and other operating expenses. COVID-19-related EIDLs have an interest rate of 3.75% for businesses and 2.75% for nonprofits and initially had an automatic one-year deferment on repayment, but on March 16, 2021, the SBA announced that they would extend the deferment period for a second year.

“While there are many hopeful signs that the economy is improving, most small businesses are not yet in a position to benefit from the recovery due to their smaller profit margins, more limited inventories, lack of access to capital, and struggles to compete with larger corporate competitors for employees and supplies, particularly as we work to address supply chain delays,” wrote the lawmakers.

“The enterprises that turned to the Small Business Administration (SBA) during the pandemic include some of the most vulnerable businesses in our nation. Granting them additional time before having to pay back their loans would not only provide much-needed relief during this period of continued uncertainty, increased costs, and supply chain challenges, but also put them in a much better position to thrive once the economy is fully recovered,” continued the lawmakers.

“When Congress funded the COVID EIDL program in 2020, it did so to ensure that small businesses would have access to the capital they needed to weather this pandemic and to ultimately come out of it stronger. After two turbulent years, we know the end is in sight, but small enterprises still need help. Congress has given you the authority to provide relief, and we ask that you recognize the continued uncertainty and struggles small businesses face today and use it now,” the lawmakers concluded.