The money to help America's small businesses recover from closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic should "never have been allowed to run dry," but there is likely a deal coming this week to replenish the funds, Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., said Monday.
"The latest I'm hearing is that they have $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program and $50 billion for emergency injury disaster loans and that's also important for small businesses – $100 billion for hospitals and testing," Zeldin told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"I've heard there might be a vote as early as Wednesday so hopefully, this will come together."
Small businesses are on "life support," and if the money to help them is not funded, there will be companies all over the nation that "will not ever reopen," he added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had plenty of notice money was running out last Thursday, and "the fact that we are here the next week and have all these applications that have not been put over the finish line because of this delay, it's inexcusable," Zeldin said.
Pelosi and other Democrats should not be using the program as leverage to try to get other funding items, Zeldin said, as it is "essential that this money gets done right away."
But instead, Pelosi's "posturing has been out of touch at times as we've seen her in front of her $23,000 freezer choosing ice cream," Zeldin said. "There is an essential business and a central industry right now that really needs to be put back to work. It's called Congress."
Meanwhile, Zeldin said the country needs to reopen "smartly and precisely."
"We need to reopen our economy and need to do so in a way that prevents another outbreak," Zeldin said. "I happen to be from a county that has been head extremely hard. We've had well over 50,000 positive cases."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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