Columns Growing up, my family owned a small business — John’s Fresh Produce. When I was in seventh grade and my father became ill, I dropped out of school to help my mom open the store. When he got better, I returned to school, and our family worked hard to keep the store running. That produce stand was our livelihood and our connection to the community. It’s where I learned the value of hard work and the joys and difficulties of operating a small business.
If we were open today, during this health crisis, we wouldn’t merely have been trying to keep our small business afloat, we would’ve lost our only source of income. Small businesses in Southwest Washington and across America are suffering — yet too few of them are getting the help they need.
When I’m speaking with small business owners throughout (Washington’s 3rd Congressional District), I keep hearing the same question: Why is so much of the Paycheck Protection Program money going to large companies rather than the small businesses it’s meant for? We’ve read the headlines and heard D.C. politicians talking a good game — but our communities are still waiting. Congress isn’t getting the job done and small businesses are being left behind.
It’s not just small businesses that are being hurt — it’s the health of the people in Southwest Washington. We’ve heard plenty of promises that Personal Protective Equipment and tests are on their way, but we’re still waiting. And cities and counties throughout our district are preparing for massive blows to their budgets. We know what that means: unsafe staffing for first responders, decreased funding for teachers and schools, and fewer resources for the health care workers on the front lines of this crisis. The very people who keep our communities running are being hung out to dry.
Let’s be clear: the problem is not a lack of spending from D.C. politicians. Over the last several weeks, Congress has added trillions to the national debt without oversight on where the money is going — but it’s clear it isn’t reaching our communities. Every day, while small businesses in our neighborhoods are forced to lay people off and shut their doors, billions of dollars in PPP and emergency aid are going to huge corporations and political insiders. D.C. has definitely opened the checkbook, just not for us.
