This week, United States Representative Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Introduced a bill to give small businesses an extra year to pay off Economic disaster loan (EIDL) funds due to the pandemic, reducing the repayment period from one year to two.

Representative of the United States, Sharice Davids, D-Kansas, is the primary cosponsor. Other funders include United States Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., United States Representative Annie Craig, D-Minn., And United States Representative Dan Meuser, R-Penn.

“Currently, recipients of EIDL loans must start repaying their loans after 1 year. When business owners initially took out these loans in response to the COVID-19 disaster, no one expected we would still be facing a global pandemic a year later. Now, the first payments of many loan recipients are due in March and April 2021, but many local job creators have been unable to grow or recover as the pandemic continues to rage. This extension is essential so that small business owners who took out a loan during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic do not have to start making payments until at least 2022, ”Salazar’s office noted.

On Wednesday, Salazar explained why she introduced the bill.

“Many of our local job creators applied for EIDL loans at the start of the epidemic and yet the pandemic continued to wreak havoc on our small businesses,” said Salazar. “We cannot force our struggling small business owners to pay off these loans at a time when many are barely able to keep their doors open. I am proud to present this bipartisan bill which will give our local job creators an extra year before they have to make their first loan repayments.

“For almost a year now, the coronavirus pandemic has devastated our communities, and especially the future of our small businesses. Even with the acceleration of vaccine rollouts, the pandemic is far from over and our small businesses need all the help they can get to get through it. I am proud to present this legislation with Representative Salazar to delay the repayment of EIDL loans for small businesses that are the backbone of our community and our economy, ”Davids said.

The invoice has been sent to United States House Small Business Committee. So far, there is no accompanying measure in the US Senate.

Contact Kevin Derby at [email protected]