Exclusive conference call offered advice on federal loans to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and what it will take to re-start the economy
NFIB Utah held an April 10 conference call for its members to ask Sen. Mitt Romney questions about federal government actions to help them deal with the COVID-19 crisis.
The senator started out by praising the state of Utah for coming in with some additional loans of its own and then empathized with what small-business owners are dealing with and encouraged them not to give up.
“You’re making some difficult decisions. You want to help the people that have been associated with your enterprise, but at the same time, you have to save your business. That’s really critical.
“When you think it’s over. When you think you can’t go any further. When you think, gosh, this business has got to close. I just can’t go on any further. I can’t pay my utility bill. I can’t pay my rent.
“My experience with turnarounds is you can go on longer than you think. When you think you can’t go beyond next Friday, you’ll find you can go further. Sometimes you just have to go to the people you owe money to and say, ‘It’s going to take a little longer for me to get this. We’re going to have to wait until this crisis is over. I’m applying for loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, I’m doing this and that’ … My experience has been when you thought we couldn’t possibly go on another week, somehow we went on another week and then another and then another.
“So, it’s worth holding your breath and staying in business as long as you possibly can.”
NFIB Utah State Director Candace Daly then read to the senator some of the questions and comments emailed by members, which included:
- the eligibility of agricultural laborer for the federal programs
- if Economic Injury Disaster Loans would be capped and/or run out of money
- why some banks are reluctant to help. “Keep going to a bank until one says, ‘yes,’” advised the senator
- if the Federal Reserve will start issuing loans to small business (No, the senator explains, but they will be of help in another way)
The senator concluded the 45-minute conference call by saying what it will take to turn the economy around. “If I had to point to the one, single thing that is going to be the most critical to getting our economy started again, it is the widespread availability of testing, and I mean throughout the population. Hopefully, we’ll see that happening sooner rather than later.”
Click the arrow on the graphic below to listen to NFIB Utah’s conference call with Senator Romney.
