WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), the co-chair of the House Small Business Caucus, hosted a virtual Small Business Workshop focused on women business owners to provide information and resources, as well as answer questions from attendees alongside small business leaders from the Center for Women and Enterprise and the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Pappas was joined on the workshop panel by Chandra Reber, Director, New Hampshire Center for Women and Enterprise; Susan Dawson, National Board Member, National Association of Women Business Owners; and Katie Paine, Owner of Paine Publishing.
"Small businesses are the backbone of New Hampshire's economy, and they make up the fabric of our communities and our state," said Congressman Pappas. "But we know the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been tremendously unequal, impacting women and women-owned businesses disproportionately hard. That is why we must continue to get the resources where they're needed most - including women-owned businesses right here in New Hampshire. I am pleased to be able to continue to share critical resources and information with our small business community through my Small Business Workshop series, and I remain committed to listening and meeting the needs of our Main Street businesses moving forward."
Pappas launched his small business workshop series earlier this year to bring together small business owners, government agencies, and local entities to foster collaboration, answer questions, and provide resources to assist New Hampshire's small business community.
In February 2021, Pappas announced that he will be co-chairing the Bipartisan House Small Business Caucus for the 117th Congress.
Background:
In March, Rep. Pappas introduced H.R. 6324, the Too Small to Fail Act. Components of this bill were included in CARES Act, such as eliminating certain eligibility restrictions and fees on SBA loans, providing emergency grants of up to $10,000 for small businesses and nonprofits, and deferring loan payments on existing SBA loans for at least 6 months.
Pappas supported the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) which has retained or saved nearly 120,000 Granite State jobs.
In May 2020, Pappas introduced bipartisan legislation to improve coordination between the Paycheck Protection Program and the Employee Retention Tax Credit to better support struggling businesses. This bill was included as part of the end-of-year Coronabus package that President Trump signed into law.
Pappas also repeatedly called for greater transparency and accountability of the PPP, and was part of the Congressional call which resulted in the Treasury Department reversing course and making partial PPP data publicly available.
In August, Pappas called for increased caps on EIDL loans and automatic refinancing and further called for SBA to allow businesses to refinancing up to the raised level, after SBA imposed a $150,000 cap on all EIDL loans. In March, SBA announced they would be raising the cap to $500,000 and providing an automatic process for recipients to refinance their loans.
Pappas also voted in support of the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, which will support small businesses by establishing a Restaurant Revitalization Fund, provide $15 billion for additional EIDL Advance direct grants, and extend the Employee Retention Tax Credit.
Additional small business resources:
Panelists on the workshop shared the following small business resources
Office of Congressman Chris Pappas: https://pappas.house.gov/contact
Small Business Administration; https://www.sba.gov/
New Hampshire Small Business Development Center: https://www.nhsbdc.org/
NAWBO https://www.nawbo.org/events/virtual-programming
CWE New Hampshire: http://cweonline.org/About-CWE/CWE-New-Hampshire
CWE NH training calendar: www.cweonline.org
UNH FOSTER Program: https://innovation.unh.edu/foster
New Hampshire SCORE: https://scorenh.org/
The SBIR and STTR Programs
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are highly competitive programs that encourage domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) with the potential for commercialization.
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