The Honorable Isabel Guzman, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration (January 24, 2022)

Summary

A January 24, 2022 letter to Administrator Isabel Guzman of the U.S. Small Business Administration from Judy Chu and Nydia M. Velázquez, asking SBA to partner on improvements to the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program. The letter says the program has provided nearly $14 billion to over 12,800 arts and cultural businesses, including more than 8,704 that have received supplemental grants. It states that program rules bar recipients of initial SVOG grants from using proceeds for expenses incurred after December 31, 2021, and that $2 billion in unobligated appropriations remains in the program. The signers request a meeting to discuss administrative and legislative solutions.

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                                        January 24, 2022

The Honorable Isabel Guzman
Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 3rd Street SW
Washington, DC 20416

Dear Administrator Guzman:

We write to request your partnership in making improvements to the Shuttered Venue Operators
Grant (SVOG) program to account for the ongoing public health crisis. On January 19, 2022, the
House Small Business Committee held a hearing on “The Power, Peril, and Promise of the
Creative Economy,” during which we heard from representatives of the nearly 5.2 million
Americans who work in the arts and creative industries. Performing arts businesses were among
the first to feel the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and will be among the last to recover.
Millions of these workers rely on businesses like theaters, cinemas, concert halls, and other arts
venues for their livelihoods.

The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program has provided nearly $14 billion in
targeted assistance to over 12,800 arts and cultural businesses across the country, including more
than 8,704 that have received supplemental grants. Most of these funds have been awarded to the
smallest businesses with 50 or fewer full-time employees. We appreciate SBA’s work to disburse
these funds following the program’s launch.

But as the witnesses in our January 19 hearing testified, arts workers and venues have seen their
economic recovery again halted by the record-breaking wave of COVID-19 infections caused by
the Omicron Variant. Because program rules restrict recipients of initial SVOG grants from
using proceeds to cover expenses incurred after December 31, 2021, these businesses are left
without a tool to address the ongoing crisis. Further, there are $2 billion in unobligated
appropriations remaining in the program which must be used to support these businesses as soon
as possible.

Congress and SBA must work together to make improvements to the SVOG program so that arts
and performing businesses can survive Omicron-related impacts. We request a meeting with
your office at the earliest possible date to discuss administrative and legislative solutions to
accomplish these goals.

Sincerely,




Judy Chu                                                          Nydia M. Velázquez
Member of Congress                                                Chairwoman
                                                                  Committee on Small Business
                                                                  U.S. House of Representatives


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