As the country continues to transition from a historic economic recovery to stable, steady growth that works for families and small businesses, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, the voice for America’s 32.5 million small businesses in President Biden’s Cabinet, highlighted the impact of the SBA’s COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). Through the life of the program, the SBA disbursed approximately $390 billion to nearly four million small businesses and nonprofits.

Taken together with the American Rescue Plan-funded programs – the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, the COVID EIDL Targeted and Supplemental Advance Grants, and the Paycheck Protection Program -- COVID EIDL, which was often used for critical business operations such as making payroll, has helped small businesses power historic economic growth. In the first three quarters of 2021, small businesses with fewer than 50 employees created 1.9 million jobs, the fastest nine-month start in any year on record. This historic level of investment in saving our small business economy has resulted in high marks of trust in the SBA among the American public.

“The SBA has delivered historic economic relief to millions of America’s small businesses through the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program,” said Administrator Guzman. “President Biden believes we can deliver government services and ensure critical relief gets into the hands of those who need it the most with equity, speed, and certainty. We delivered on his vision by revamping the COVID EIDL program to expand the delivery of low-interest, flexible loans to meet the continued needs of small businesses for financial relief so they could recover. At the same time, we enhanced anti-fraud measures to protect taxpayer dollars and ensure that funds benefited those Congress intended to help.  Nearly 90 percent of loans went to small businesses with 10 employees or less, which tend to include the hardest-hit and most underserved populations. The hardworking team members of the SBA and the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to use every tool at their disposal to support small business owners.”