SANTA FE – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) issued the following statement after Senate Republicans rejected Senate Democrats’ attempt to pass emergency funding to bolster the CARES Act for small businesses, health care providers, state, local, and Tribal governments, and food assistance. Instead, Senate Republicans tried to pass a COVID-19 relief bill that failed to include fixes to the troubled small business loan program or included additional help for hospitals or state, local and Tribal governments.
“I am disappointed that Senate Republicans blocked critical funding and fixes to bolster the bipartisan CARES Act for struggling small businesses, hospitals, health care providers, state, local, and Tribal governments, and families in need. Instead, Senate Republicans yet again tried to move forward on COVID-19 legislation without any bipartisan negotiations that failed to address the full scope of this crisis. Senate Republicans’ alternative proposal was severely inadequate – and we cannot simply add more funding for a program without making sure it actually works for New Mexico’s 150,000 small businesses, many of whom have reported that they are already having great difficulty accessing the SBA assistance that we made available in our bipartisan legislation. The administration and Congress need to make sure the money we are appropriating for small businesses quickly gets into the hands of the New Mexico and Tribal businesses struggling to stay afloat. Despite Senator McConnell’s partisan move today, I am hopeful that the Senate will once again come together on a bipartisan basis soon on a bipartisan interim package to provide additional emergency relief to those who need it, while we work on a larger fourth response package to build on our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
