June 22, 2020

Illinois Congressional Delegation Urges Small Business Administration To Approve State’s Economic Injury Declaration

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation sent a letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza supporting Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s request for a SBA Economic Injury Declaration for qualifying counties in Illinois amid occurrences of looting, arson, and rioting of small businesses across the State. Earlier this month, Governor Pritzker issued a State Disaster Proclamation for Cook and contiguous counties that experienced the highest frequency of damage reports. 

“Many of the businesses in these areas will require assistance to reconstruct and reopen.  Assisting small businesses in recovery is of the utmost importance to these communities, and essential to their economic well-being,” the members wrote.  

A SBA Economic Injury Declaration would provide low-interest federal loans of up to $2 million to small businesses and non-profit organizations, which may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that cannot be paid due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The letter was signed by the following members of Illinois Congressional Delegation: U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Bobby Rush (D-IL-01), Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03), Chuy Garcia (D-IL-04), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), Sean Casten (D-IL-06), Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), Mike Bost (R-IL-12), Rodney Davis (R-IL-13), Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL-16), and Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17).

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

June 22, 2020

Dear Administrator Carranza:

We are writing in support of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s request for a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Declaration for qualifying counties in Illinois amid occurrences of looting, arson, and rioting of small businesses across the State.

Earlier this month, Governor Pritzker issued a State Disaster Proclamation for Cook and contiguous counties that experienced the highest frequency of damage reports.  Many of the businesses in these areas will require assistance to reconstruct and reopen.  Assisting small businesses in recovery is of the utmost importance to these communities, and essential to their economic well-being.

Governor Pritzker has determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and local governments.  We respectfully request that you issue a SBA Economic Injury Declaration that includes all counties for which the Governor has requested such assistance, and that the loans also be offered to the counties that are contiguous to the declared counties.

Thank you in advance for your timely consideration of this important request.  We stand ready to assist in any way appropriate.

Sincerely,