U.S. Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) commended a May 4 announcement by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that it would open an online portal that allows America’s farmers and ranchers to access COVID-19 disaster loans.
Specifically, SBA is opening a portal for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs authorized under the Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act, H.R. 266, which was signed into law on April 24 to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing additional funding for small business loans, healthcare providers and COVID-19 testing.
“Today’s announcement is a crucial win for Arizona farmers and ranchers who have been hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak,” Sen. McSally said on Monday. “While farms have not traditionally been eligible for EIDL, we created new requirements specific to coronavirus for a limited time in the CARES Act that we intended to also apply to small agricultural businesses and farms.”
Sen. McSally added that she “pressed the administration to immediately implement this update and am glad to see they responded. Now Arizona farmers and ranchers can get access to these low-interest loans to help them survive the pandemic.”
The SBA will begin accepting new EIDL applications on a limited basis only, according to Sen. McSally’s office, which noted that agricultural businesses that submitted an EIDL loan application through the streamlined application portal prior to the legislative change will be processed without the need for re-applying.
All other EIDL loan applications that were submitted before the portal stopped accepting new applications on April 15 will be processed on a first-in, first-out basis, according to the senator’s office.