States Senator Et Al

Summary

A letter dated June 15, 2021 from United States Senators to Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, about the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program created by the Save Our Stages Act. The senators urge the Administrator to take immediate action so that relief reaches eligible applicants, noting that 51 days had passed since SBA began receiving applications. The letter states that strict compliance with competitive grant rules and limits on communication with applicants have caused delays. It asks for information including the number of awards approved and disbursed, applications with holds, efforts to correct DNP designation notices, and the timeline for later disbursements. The letter is signed by senators including John Cornyn and Amy Klobuchar.

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Wnited States Senate

WASHINGTON, DC 20510

June 15, 2021

The Honorable Isabella Casillas Guzman
Administrator, Small Business Administration
409 3rd Street, SW

Washington, DC 20416

Dear Administrator Guzman:

The Save Our Stages Act, now the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program, was
created to prevent widespread closures of venues that have been devastated by the loss of
revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As supporters of the SVOG program, we urge you to
take immediate action to ensure that the relief reaches eligible applicants without further delay.

With each passing day, more independent businesses are forced to shutter permanently or file for
bankruptcy. Landlords and banks are no longer permitting deferrals and are pressing for
immediate payment of past due accounts; businesses are receiving eviction notices; mom-and-
pop businesses are being forced to sell.

It has been nearly six months since Congress passed the Save our Stages Act, nearly two months
since the second launch of the program, and 51 days since the Small Business Administration
(SBA) began receiving applications. We urge you to immediately take steps to ensure the funds
are distributed to qualified applicants.

The SVOG program is unique, with necessary restrictions built in to ensure taxpayer funding
goes only to eligible applicants in need. Under the terms of the law, the SVOG program requires
the award of funding to eligible applicants who meet the simple requirements of the program. In
this context, the insistence on strict compliance with competitive grant rules has created
unnecessary delays in funding. Similarly, restrictions that SBA has placed on communication
with grant applicants are unnecessary and have prevented the agency from providing
administrative support to individual applicants that could have streamlined the application
review process. Bureaucratic process cannot stand in the way of getting these desperately needed

funds out the door.

Further delays are unacceptable and would have irreversible consequences for these industries.
In an effort to keep our constituents informed and ensure our small businesses receive the
support they were promised, we respectfully request you provide us with the following
information:

The number SVOG awards that have been approved;

The number of SVOG grants that have been disbursed to recipients;

The amount of SVOG funding that has been disbursed;

The number of applications with holds;

The number of first-priority applicants that have received an award notice;

AR WN
What SBA is doing to update small business owners on the status of their applications;

What SBA is doing to ensure applicants are not incorrectly associated with similar-named

individuals and entities on the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE);

8. What SBA is doing to correct false DNP designation notices sent to thousands of
applicants;

9. SBA’s justification for breaking grant awards, regardless of size, into multiple

disbursements; and
10. SBA’s timeline for subsequent disbursements and what grantees need to do to receive

SD

them.
Sincerely,
/s/ /s/
John Cornyn Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator United States Senator
/s/ /s/
Bill Cassidy Chuck Schumer
United States Senator United States Senator
/s/ /s/
Mike Crapo Kyrsten Sinema
United States Senator United States Senator
/s/ /s/
John Thune Tammy Baldwin

United States Senator

/s/

James Risch
United States Senator

/s/

Rob Portman
United States Senator

/s/

Bill Hagerty
United States Senator

/s/

Deb Fischer
United States Senator

United States Senator

/s/

Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator

/s/

Ron Wyden
United States Senator

/s/

Chris Van Hollen
United States Senator

/s/

Maggie Hassan
United States Senator
/s/

Marsha Blackburn
United States Senator

/s/

Steve Daines
United States Senator

/s/

Thom Tillis
United States Senator

/s/

John Boozman
United States Senator

/s/

Roger Marshall
United States Senator

/s/

Mitt Romney
United States Senator

/s/

Chuck Grassley
United States Senator

/s/

Mike Braun
United States Senator

/s/

Ted Cruz
United States Senator

/s/

Marco Rubio
United States Senator

/s/

Shelley Moore Capito
United States Senator

/s/

Patrick Leahy
United States Senator

/s/

Ben Ray Lujan
United States Senator

/s/

Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator

/s/

Dick Durbin
United States Senator

/s/

Robert Casey Jr.
United States Senator

/s/

Maria Cantwell
United States Senator

/s/

Mark Warner
United States Senator

/s/

Jack Reed
United States Senator

/s/

Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator

/s/

Ed Markey
United States Senator

/s/

Bob Menendez
United States Senator
/s/

John Hickenlooper
United States Senator

/s/

Tina Smith
United States Senator

/s/

Brian Schatz
United States Senator

/s/

Tammy Duckworth
United States Senator

/s/

Gary C, Peters
United States Senator

/s/

Patty Murray
United States Senator

/s/

Mark Kelly
United States Senator

/s/

Alex Padilla
United States Senator

/s/

Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senator

/s/

Martin Heinrich
United States Senator

/s/

Angus King Jr.
United States Senator

/s/

Sherrod Brown
United States Senator

/s/

Jon Tester
United States Senator

/s/

Jacky Rosen
United States Senator

/s/

Jeff Merkley
United States Senator

/s/

Joe Manchin
United States Senator

/s/

Chris Coons
United States Senator

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