Maine Small Businesses Struggling To Access Resources While Big Businesses Get “Concierge Treatment”
While Maine small businesses lost out on relief through the Paycheck Protection Program, big banks have brought in $10 billion in fees while moving large, publicly traded companies to the front of the line to receive the program’s limited resources.
Senator Susan Collins, one of the U.S. Senate’s biggest beneficiaries of Wall Street cash, co-authored the Paycheck Protection Program and has made no effort to close loopholes in the law that have allowed banks to put their wealthiest clients first. When Congress passed a second round of funding for the program, rather than advocating for changes that would make sure actual small businesses had a fair shot, Collins fought for more of the same.
“Senator Collins designed a program that allowed big banks and their wealthiest clients to get the first bite at the apple and left small businesses here in Maine behind,” said Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Lisa Roberts. “For too long, Collins has been putting corporate special interests first in Washington. We deserve a Senator who puts Maine first.”
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