WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Small Business Oversight Subcommittee Chair Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Roger Williams (R-TX) led more than 200 of their House colleagues in a letter to SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman urging immediate action to stabilize and improve the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which provides emergency assistance grants to venues that were unable to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program – which was created in the bipartisan COVID-19 relief package spearheaded by Rep. Phillips and the Problem Solvers Caucus – includes more than $16 billion in grants for stages, museums, theaters, and other venues that were forced to closed due to the pandemic. However, the SBA has approved fewer than 500 grants, including just 3 in Minnesota, despite receiving more than 14,000 applications nationwide. Phillips’s letter requests a detailed explanation of ongoing issues with the program and demands that SBA accelerate the release of relief funding to struggling venues across the country.
“The slow pace is becoming increasingly untenable for the small businesses in our districts,” wrote Rep. Phillips and his colleagues. “Their banks have threatened to call in the full amount of small business loans, they do not have the funds to pay their landlords full rent, and they cannot retain staff. We are hearing from venue operators who are days away from closing their doors if these funds are not sent soon. These small businesses not only provide good jobs and contribute economically to our local communities, they contribute to the spirit and local culture as well. We must act now.”
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