Steve Chabot

• Pandemic-program role: Ranking member of the House Committee on Small Business in the 116th Congress (2019–2021); earlier its chairman (2015–2019).
• Institution - office: U.S. House of Representatives - Ohio - Committee on Small Business - Type: elected official
• Tenure (relief-relevant): Representative from Ohio, 1995–2009 and 2011 – January 3, 2023 (House historian biography).

Steve Chabot was the senior Republican on the House Small Business Committee when Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program and turned SBA's disaster-loan program into a national one. Speaking for the Flexibility Act on May 28, 2020, he said PPP's first rules had "some shortcomings, some unintended consequences. That will happen when you do 6 months of legislative work in 6 days."¹ By his count in July 2020, PPP had made 4.8 million loans worth more than half a trillion dollars and COVID-19 EIDL just over 2 million loans for $127 billion.² He lost his seat in the 2022 election (House historian biography).³

Who he is

Chabot was born in Cincinnati in 1953, taught school, and served on the Cincinnati city council and as a Hamilton County commissioner before winning a House seat in 1994. He lost in 2008, won the seat back in 2010 and served until January 2023. He chaired the Small Business Committee in the 114th and 115th Congresses (House historian biography).³

Ranking member in 2020

With Nydia Velázquez in the chair, Chabot co-signed the committee's main bipartisan letters to SBA that year.

• April 3, 2020: with Velázquez and Senate Small Business chairman Marco Rubio, a letter to Administrator Jovita Carranza saying Section 1110 of the CARES Act was meant to make farms and agricultural businesses eligible for COVID-19 EIDL.⁴
• June 9, 2020: with Velázquez, a letter from a bipartisan group of committee members on EIDL. Applicants, they wrote, "were met with additional uncertainty stemming from delayed approvals, lack of communication, and lack of transparency."⁵

At the committee's June 10, 2020 EIDL hearing he said "the economic downturn caused by the Corona virus crisis has completely overwhelmed the EIDL program." As the crisis unfolded, he added, "the lines of communication from the SBA to businesses about the EIDL program unfortunately has deteriorated."⁶ A week later, at the PPP hearing, he called SBA's 4.5 million loans in two months "a truly Herculean effort" by "a relatively small government agency."⁷ He opened both hearings by objecting that the House was meeting virtually.⁶⁷

The Flexibility Act

Chabot was the Republican floor manager for H.R. 7010, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act written by Dean Phillips and Chip Roy. Velázquez thanked him on the floor "for his assistance in crafting this bipartisan measure." He described its changes: a covered period of 24 weeks instead of 8, and a 60/40 payroll split in place of the 75/25 rule "inserted into the PPP by the administration through guidance."¹ The bill became law on June 5, 2020.⁸

Data and fraud

The loan-level PPP data fight reached him too. At an October 1, 2020 subcommittee hearing on fraud in PPP and EIDL, GAO's William Shear recalled GAO's struggle to get that data. He told Velázquez he was sure that she, "Ranking Member Chabot and other members of Congress were surprised when Gene Dodaro, the Comptroller General, was making personal calls to you seeking your support." Shear said GAO was close to the same point on EIDL contracts.⁹

Since 2023

Chabot's House service ended on January 3, 2023 (House historian biography).³

Related profiles

• Nydia Velázquez: committee chair during his time as ranking member.
• Dean Phillips: lead sponsor of the Flexibility Act.
• Jovita Carranza: SBA Administrator in 2020.
• Hannibal "Mike" Ware: SBA Inspector General, a witness at the October 2020 fraud hearing.

Sources

1. Congressional Record, House, May 28, 2020, debate on H.R. 7010. Original: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2020-05-28/pdf/CREC-2020-05-28-pt1-PgH2332.pdf ↩
2. House Committee on Small Business, hearing "The EIDL Program: Status Update From the Administration," July 1, 2020. ↩
3. U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives, "CHABOT, Steve". Original: https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/C/CHABOT,-Steve-(C000266)/ ↩
4. Senate Small Business Committee, "Rubio, Velazquez, Chabot Clarify Intent of Agriculture Business Eligibility for EIDL in CARES Act," Apr. 3, 2020. Original: https://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=7EBE9AD1-CFFA-4CD5-9028-BEA0DA2E532F ↩
5. House Small Business Committee, "Chairwoman Velázquez and Ranking Member Chabot Lead Bipartisan Letter to SBA on Issues Within COVID-19 Relief EIDL Program," June 9, 2020. Original: https://democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3294 ↩
6. House Committee on Small Business, hearing "The EIDL Program: A View From Main Street," June 10, 2020. ↩
7. House Committee on Small Business, hearing "PPP: Loan Forgiveness and Other Challenges," June 17, 2020. ↩
8. Pub. L. 116–142, Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, June 5, 2020. Original: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-116publ142/pdf/PLAW-116publ142.pdf ↩
9. House Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations, hearing "Preventing Fraud and Abuse of PPP and EIDL," Oct. 1, 2020. Original: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-116hhrg41471/pdf/CHRG-116hhrg41471.pdf ↩