WHITE LAKE – U.S Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Antonio Delgado, of District 19, visited Bethel Woods on Monday to promote new bipartisan legislation, the Restart Act, which will bring future relief to businesses and non-profits.
The legislation would allow the flexibility of when to rehire workers and when capital can be used. It would also defer interest payments for the first year of the loan and principal payments for the first two years, and helps non-profits, left out of PPP, with favorable loan terms such as a longer loan duration and lower interest rates.
“Previous economic relief efforts like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) clearly did not work for everyone,” said Gillibrand. “This legislation would provide a lifeline to those businesses by creating a new loan program to fund six months of their payroll, benefits, and operating expenses. The Restart Act would provide an extended 12-month covered loan period for businesses that have seen revenues decline by at least 80 percent and provide loan forgiveness based on the revenue declines in 2020.”
The legislation would allow the flexibility of when to rehire workers and when capital can be used. It would also defers interest payments for the first year of the loan and principal payments for the first two years, and helps non-profits, left out of PPP, with favorable loan terms such as a longer loan duration and lower interest rates.
“Our recovery plans for businesses need to be based in reality. The reality is that COVID will be with us for a long time,” said Gillibrand.
Sullivan County is the most dependent county in New York state with an estimated 18 percent of all wage dollars earned through tourism. Statewide, it’s estimated that travel spending is down 72 percent from last year due to the pandemic.
“Over the last several weeks, I’ve toured business across the district, from Oneonta, Cooperstown, Red Hook, and in Sullivan, and in each of these communities I’ve heard from business owners they have found work around and discovered new ways to make money online or move their businesses outdoors,” said Delgado. “Many of these creative solutions are not open to venues like this one. In-fact the current economic situation for independent theaters, museums, and small to mid-sized businesses that have been unable to open is dire.”
