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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 2020)
8A | SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2020 | SIUSLAW NEWS BILL from page 1A directly to states and local- ities to help them bolster testing shortfalls in their communities,” DeFazio said. “Widespread testing is the key to fighting this virus, re- opening the economy and, above all else, protecting the health and wellbeing of Americans so that we can safely begin to resume our normal lives.” Congress passed the CARES Act on March 27, which among other things allocated resources to busi- nesses and individuals to assist in maintaining payroll and liquidity after the first widespread effects of the pandemic started to affect American society. This effort was quickly overwhelmed by the scale of public need for assistance. Millions of businesses have been impacted by the pan- demic and its fallout, and many have tried to receive support from the federal government and been unsuc- cessful. However, there is mount- ing data that illustrates how, even with some form of fi- nancial assistance, as many as 30 percent of small busi- nesses in America may not reopen, according to a recent article in Forbes magazine. Models also show the numbers of businesses likely to fail increases dramatically the longer state-mandated shutdowns and closures re- main in place. The official death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in the United States has sur- passed 50,000, with the num- ber of total reported cases expected to exceed 1 million by the weekend. So far, Lane County has re- ported only two COVID-re- lated fatalities as of press time, with the latest an- nounced just Friday with the death of a 59-year-old man from the Eugene/Spring- field area with pre-existing conditions. As of Friday at noon, there have been 50 confirmed positive cases and a total of 2,679 tests complet- ed, according to Lane Coun- ty Public Health. The Oregon Health Au- thority (OHA) reports a total of 83 COVID-related fatali- ties statewide, and 2,127 in- dividuals who have positively contracted the disease as of Friday. The majority of the $484 billion interim pandemic package will be allocated to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was intended to provide financial assistance to small business owners by providing them with funds to continue pay- ing employees while closed due to the pandemic. The PPP program was imple- mented and is overseen by the Small Business Admin- istration, with support from the U.S Department of the Treasury. The original intent of PPP was to provide small businesses with funds to pay up to eight weeks of payroll costs, rent, utilities and mortgages. All PPP ear- marked funds were quickly allocated with millions of claims left unfunded and, in some instances, unprocessed. Public disappointment with the initial PPP guidelines was widespread and bipar- tisan. Unfortunately, many larger, publicly traded com- panies were given preference during the filing applications process while smaller, less well-financed operations were shut out. According to DeFazio, “The Paycheck Protection Program has provided Ore- gon’s small businesses a crit- ical lifeline as they deal with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, but it was clear that more assis- tance to small businesses was needed. With passage of this legislation, we’ll add more than $300 billion to the PPP, and I’m proud that we were able to secure $60 billion for small and mid-sized banks, credit unions and communi- ty-based lending institutions to ensure that unbanked and underserved businesses that have been pushed to the back of the line can access this vi- tal program.” The legislation passed Thursday by Congress was seen by leaders in both major political parties as necessary in order to adequately deal with the ongoing social and economic ramifications of the disruption to the country caused by COVID-19. Tens of millions of Amer- icans have filed for unem- ployment benefits in the last month. States across the country have instituted mandatory closings and are limiting the numbers of in- dividuals allowed to congre- gate in social settings. Retail eating venues and whole seg- ments of the entertainment sector have been decimat- ed by these closures. Social institutions like churches, fraternal organizations and sporting events have been dramatically impacted and constitutional issues have entered into the national dis- cussion. Congress members from both sides of the political aisle realized the need for additional funding quick- ly and, almost immediately upon the implementation of the CARES Act, began work- ing on additional legislation to address the most obvious of the package’s shortfalls. There is also language in this round of assistance which clearly defines that money being allocated is specifically for non-public- ly traded companies. This stipulation theoretically re- moves the possibility that a company with tens of mil- lions of dollars in revenue re- ceives assistance while small business owners do not. Hospitals, which have been on the front lines of the battle to control the COVID outbreak, received $100 bil- lion to supplement reduced revenue due to the curtailing of elective surgeries and for materials needed to increase testing for the virus. The designation is important as there is currently no testing plan to determine the spread of the disease. The Economic Injury Di- saster Loan (EIDL) portion of CARES also received an infusion of $60 billion, which will allow for those that suffered catastrophic loss to receive assistance. DeFazio said he believes local governments and trib- al entities have been unfair- ly excluded from receiving CARES-related support and believes another round of fi- nancing needs to include fund- ing for both of those groups. “Unfortunately, despite bipartisan support for addi- tional funding, the Trump administration and congres- sional Republicans refused to add any additional fund- ing for state, local and tribal governments who are on the front lines of this crisis,” the representative said. “I will continue to push for great- er and direct investment in state and local entities in any subsequent relief legislation. I will also continue to push for strengthening SNAP benefits, investments in our Postal Service, additional economic impact payments, implementation of an OSHA emergency temporary stan- dard to strengthen protec- tive measures for our front- line workers, funding for hazard pay for these individ- uals, and more.” The end result of Thurs- day’s legislation dealt with the most glaring deficien- cies of the CARES Act and will serve as the next step in the government’s attempt to mitigate the economic im- pacts being felt across Ore- gon. A weekly roundup of shopping, savings and doings around town. Make your life easier with HONDA. Florence Saw Shop is your local HONDA Power equipment dealer. Come see our selection of Generators, Mowers, Tillers and Pumps. 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