I've spent the last 2 weeks of my life locked in this room trying to make #PPPloans work for my companies. I have thoughts 1/

I've got to acknowledge that these are insane times and @marcorubio had the best intentions. Everyone from Congress, to the banks, to @USTreasury, to @nvca has been working like crazy to make #PPPloans work. It's still not working 2/ https://www.wsj.com/articles/small-business-loans-face-delays-even-as-coronavirus-program-expands-11586511002

As I mentioned on @Marketplace this week, the original sin was to use @SBAgov as the distribution mechanism. In a good year SBA issues $30B worth of 7a loans. To issue $349B of #PPPloans in a few weeks is staggering. 3/

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/covid-19-small-business-loans-venture-back-startups/?amp

Even though Congress thought it was cutting through @SBAgov regs by waiving "affiliate rules" and "personal guarantees," SBA rules almost killed this program before it started. Over 120 startup groups and 100 lawmakers pleaded for relaxed regs 4/ https://twitter.com/nvca/status/1244420006290624513?s=19

With imperfect regs, the next step was to get banks comfortable with lending. Even after @USTreasury practically shifted all burdens of proof to borrowers, the mechanics of lending are still being invented on the fly.
#PPPloans checks aren't flowing 5/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/10/small-businesses-are-still-awaiting-emergency-loans-facing-dilemma-about-how-spend-them/

Additionally, fundamental flaws with the @SBAgov Etrans system, which was never intended to do something like #PPPloans, means many banks either can't work with the program or have all their applications in limbo. @ComericaBank is a great example 6/ https://www.comerica.com/campaigns/covid-19/ppp-app-updates.html#1

Even if/when the money gets disbursed, #PPPloans has a complex formula for determining loan forgiveness in just 8 weeks. There is no plan or mechanism for figuring any of that out. It's a leap of faith for everyone involved. 7/

And because the program is "first come first serve" while fundamentally underfunded for it's intended purpose, folks are worried about not getting their fair share. Layer in the broken application process and you have a panic 8/ https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2020/04/08/frenzy-over-ppp-loans-hits-buffalo-business.html

Congress is currently debating throwing another $250B at #PPPloans. I still haven't seen a anyone get a check. I sure hope someone is looking at fundamentally fixing this. 9/9

@RepFletcher @RoKhanna @marcorubio @JohnCornyn @SenTedCruz @SpeakerPelosi @stevenmnuchin1