The News Media Alliance commends Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Chris Coons (D-DE) for introducing the “Heroes Small Business Lifeline Act” that provides a Small Business Administration (SBA) affiliation waiver that would allow more news publishers to apply for SBA loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) created by the CARES Act in March 2020.
This waiver language follows that included in the updated HEROES Act passed by the House on October 1. Both bills would allow news publishers to apply for PPP loans as individual, independent entities, despite ownership by companies with other small news publishers or non-news businesses, allowing more publishers to qualify for the vital loans.
The Alliance is extremely grateful to Senators Cardin, Shaheen, Schumer, and Coons for their support of high-quality, local journalism, and for their leadership in gathering extensive support for the bill in the Senate with 29 Senators having already signed on as co-sponsors. These SBA loans, which will allow news publishers to continue bringing critical news and information to their local communities, are more critical than ever, as news publishers face extreme challenges from the coronavirus pandemic.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
