It’s my pleasure to join the Asian American Hotel Owners Association 2021 National Convention. Thank you to AAHOA [pronounced Ah-Ho-Ah] Interim President and CEO Ken Greene for inviting me here, and for your partnership and your leadership during these unprecedented times.
While I wish I was there with you all in Dallas – my roots are Texas strong -- I’m here in my office in Washington, D.C., working alongside my mission-driven SBA staff to provide billions of dollars in much-needed relief to our nation’s 30 small businesses and innovative startups.
As one of the fastest growing organizations in the hospitality industry, with a membership that owns more than half the hotels in the United States, AAHOA has been at the forefront of efforts to help the hard-hit hospitality and travel industries recover and rebuild from the COVID pandemic.
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, and the hard work of our nation’s essential workers, more than 163 million Americans are now vaccinated. Across the country, hotels are opening their doors and customers are coming back.
I’ve seen it happening as I’ve been traveling around talking to small business owners in recent weeks, and I’ve heard optimism in the voices of entrepreneurs who’ve spent the past year plus wondering if they would ever see their customers again.
At the same time, millions of small businesses are still struggling. Hotels have incurred increased costs and unexpected debt as they pivoted and adapted to the new COVID marketplace -- revamping cleaning standards and adopting technology to create touchless guest experiences.
Asian-American owned businesses in particular, have suffered disproportionately from the economic impacts of this pandemic. And these impacts have been compounded by alarming levels of prejudice, hate and violence targeted at our Asian-American communities.
I was so saddened to learn of the murder of ZAH-shen CHAW-dree, a motel owner in Vernon, Connecticut. ZAH-shen’s death, at the young age of 30, is the latest in a series of attacks against hoteliers that’s been accompanied by an increase in anti-Asian xenophobia.
This hate and violence have no place in America – especially as we know that growth and opportunity by supporting each other will benefit us all.
As President Biden has said repeatedly: We cannot be silent. We cannot be complicit. We have to speak out. We have to act.
I was proud to see President Biden take immediate action against this hatred, signing a presidential memorandum in the first week of his presidency that directs all federal agencies to take steps to ensure their official actions mitigate anti-bias and xenophobia.
At the SBA, we take that directive very seriously. As SBA Administrator, I’m committed to combatting hate that affects our communities including the small businesses that power them. I’m also committed to building an equitable future by eliminating barriers to capital, markets and networks that can limit opportunities for Asian-American entrepreneurs.
Since the pandemic began, the SBA has scaled dramatically from $40 billion dollars to more than a trillion – disbursing loans, grants, debt relief and other resources to help our nation’s small businesses survive.
Today, we’re leveraging this unprecedented moment and attention on small businesses to transform our programs and make them more customer-centric, technology forward and equitable.
I’ve directed my staff to be as entrepreneurial as the entrepreneurs we serve and put our customers – America’s small businesses – first. We need to understand their needs and meet them where THEY are, instead of waiting for them to come to us.
I’m proud to say that we’ve made changes and achieved results.
In 2021, 96 percent of PPP loans went to small businesses with 20 employees or less with strong performance in rural and low to moderate income communities. Now we’re working closely with our more than 5,000 private financial partners to ensure our small businesses can gain forgiveness for their PPP loans – and we recently launched a PPP Forgiveness portal to give those who received PPP loans of $150,000 or less – the opportunity to apply for forgiveness directly through the SBA.
We designed and implemented innovative and effective approaches to our targeted relief grant programs – delivering billions to our hard-hit restaurants and performing arts venues.
And now, we’re working to improve the high-in-demand COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program – or EIDL– which offers low-cost, long term funds with deferred payments.
In one of my first acts as SBA Administrator, I increased the EIDL loan limit from $150,000 to $500,000 and lengthened the time of economic injury from 6 months to 24 months. And we’re working hard to bring that limit up to the $2 million that’s allowed by statute.
This is just the beginning. We need to do much more.
Small businesses are at the forefront of the Biden-Harris administration’s Build Back Better agenda as we know they are our job creators and the giants in our economy.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will be a game-changer, providing unprecedented investments in infrastructure and enhancing our global competitiveness.
In addition, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Buy American initiative – which includes a commitment to buy from all of America – will create important new opportunities.
The future of our nations’ economy depends on our ability to help all our small businesses recover and rebuild.
Because as President Biden has said, we can’t just return to where we were before the pandemic – we need to build our country and economy back better.
I look forward to working with all of you as we bring businesses back, create jobs, and equitably connect ALL entrepreneurs in America to the support they need to start, grow, and be resilient.
Thank you.