WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) led Nevada’s Congressional delegation, including Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV), Congressman Steven Horsford (D-NV), Congressman Mark Amodei (R-NV), and Congresswoman Susie Lee (D-NV), in a bipartisan letter urging Congressional leadership to include gaming small businesses in Nevada and across the country in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
“Small businesses in the gaming industry support more than 350,000 jobs in the United States. In states like Nevada, many of our communities rely substantially on the gaming industry for employment, tax revenue, and economic growth. Many of our casinos – including hotels – are small businesses, and they employ many tens of thousands of employees across our state, making up the backbone of Nevada’s economy,” wrote the Congressmembers. “Unfortunately, recent guidance released by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Department of Treasury exclude any small business that derives more than one-third of their revenue from legal gaming activities from participation in PPP. This bipartisan issue deeply affects Nevada and many states throughout the country that depend on the revenue and jobs created by the gaming industry. Given these dire and unprecedented times due to the coronavirus outbreak, we ask that you provide much needed relief for Nevada small gaming businesses as soon as possible.”
Read the full Delegation letter aquí.
BACKGROUND: While the CARES Act that the Delegation helped pass, and the President signed into law last month, established the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program, thus far SBA has chosen to ignore Congressional intent and prohibit small businesses deriving more than 30 percent of their annual revenue from gaming activities from applying to PPP.
The entire Nevada Delegation voted in support of the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
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