U.S Reps. Sam Graves (R-MO), ranking member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Garret Graves (R-LA), ranking member on the Subcommittee on Aviation, urged Treasury Secretary Janet Yellon to speed up Payroll Assistance Program Extension (PSP2) for the nation’s smaller airlines.
In May 2020, Congress approved billions of dollars in PSP funds to help U.S. air carriers and their employees endure the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. A second round of PSP funding was approved in December 2020. The congressmen said that while larger air carriers have been approved and have received their PSP2 funds, small air carriers are still waiting for their payroll assistance.
In a letter to Yellen, the two congressmen said the assistance “is intended to deliver additional relief to small businesses, distressed industries, and our fellow Americans. Yet, while the Administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress focus on providing trillions of dollars in additional funds for progressive wish lists, getting previously approved bipartisan assistance into the hands of those who still need it appears to have been deprioritized. Two months have gone by with the Treasury failing to provide this PSP2 assistance to small air carriers and operators, most of whom met the January 14, 2021, deadline for early consideration.”
The congressmen said the delays threatened the livelihoods of families as well as puts hundreds of small businesses at risk of shutting down. Additionally, the congressmen said it threatened to strip rural Americans of a transportation mode.
“…[W]e are writing to urge that you immediately resolve this unnecessary and damaging bureaucratic logjam and make desperately needed assistance available to these smaller, distressed businesses as soon as possible,” the congressmen wrote.