Congressional leaders are scrambling to inject more money into the SBA and Payroll Protection Programs, which has already run out of money. But President and CEO of Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Stephen Waguespack says the money won’t do business owners any good if the stay-at-home orders continue.
“Some of these small businesses are going to need a little bit of a longer runway,” said Waguespack. “They are going to need more time to use these dollars to put it into their employees like congress intended because right now the employees, there is nothing for them to do if they come back because business is closed and quite frankly, many of these employees in these restaurants are saying ‘you know we are fine here at home’.”
He also says many business owners in Louisiana have run into hurdles getting their money, including having to re-submit their application with their bank.
“We are going to let congress know and we are hoping as this thing moves forward, it’s not just more money that they keep throwing at the program, it’s also tweaks to actually make it work on the ground level,” said Waguespack.