Amara Omeokwe

speaker

439 appearances 11 recordings 1 series first heard Mar 2020 last heard Dec 2023

Amara Omeokwe’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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WSJ Your Money Briefing · Billions in Small-Business Forgivable Loans Are Still Available · 5 Mar 2021 podcast

And so they're anticipating that that will allow businesses to get more in funding than they would have previously been eligible for.

Yes, and a lot of that goes back to the fact that Congress designed the Paycheck Protection Program very hastily.

So last spring, when the pandemic was taking hold in the country, lawmakers were thinking about, how do we get the money out as quickly as possible?

And they didn't necessarily foresee all these problems that came up as the program continued, problems for the very small businesses, problems for businesses in underserved communities and Black-owned businesses and minority-owned businesses.

And so they've just basically been playing catch up since the program started trying to address the concerns that have emerged as the program has continued.

So certainly lenders, small business advocates, the accounting community, they are calling on Congress to extend the program because in part of these changes, right, there is just not that much time for small businesses and the lenders themselves to digest these changes and get them out there to let businesses know that these changes are now available to better help them.

And so you do have a lot of people who are calling Congress.

for the program to be extended.

Another thing that's good to note is that the change to the loan calculation formula is not retroactive.

So if a sole proprietor or independent contractor has already been approved for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, and they now see, oh, the loan calculation formula could have made me eligible for even more money, unfortunately, they're out of luck.

They can't go back and request more money.

So there are some issues with these changes that the lending community and small businesses themselves are flagging.

WSJ Your Money Briefing · Congress Plans Next Small-Business Aid Package · 15 Dec 2020 podcast

There are some industries that have said basing a loan amount on payroll doesn't really make sense for them because many businesses in those industries are still operating at much reduced capacity.

Thanks for having me.

Yes, I've been talking to business owners.

And if you look at survey data, several different surveys that are out there, there are a lot of small business owners, particularly in those hard hit industries that rely on person to person contact that say, look, we need more aid.

And it shouldn't only even be in the form of loans, such as in the Patriot Protection Program.

We need grants.

We need other long term support programs.

And so talking to business owners, particularly at this crucial moment where state and local governments are implementing restrictions again to deal with this surge in coronavirus cases, particularly as we go into the winter months where things like outdoor dining aren't going to be much of an option, small businesses are really saying we need this aid and we need it now.

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