Small business owners questioning when the next round of stimulus will come to Florida

Jacksonville, FL. — Despite early problems, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) helped thousands of small businesses across the country survive the shutdown.

While lawmakers continue to bicker over another round of stimulus, there is a bipartisan support for another round of the PPP funding—we just do not know when that will get here.

Jovita Carranza, Head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, visited Martinizing Drycleaners in Jacksonville on Friday.

The mom-and-pop owned business has been around for nearly two decades.

“We’ve In this business since 2002,” owner Cynthia Olson said, proudly.

Deemed an essential business, Olson’s doors remained open throughout the pandemic. However, she admitted she is struggling to make ends meet.

“Every morning, I wake up with my heart pounding,” Olson said. “Like is this going to be the day that I can stay in business or not?”

The PPP loan from the federal government certainly helped her stay afloat.

“I did get the $10,000 in the beginning in April,” Olson said. “That helped, because we had really nothing coming in.”

(JACKSONVILLE-- Despite early problems, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) helped thousands of small businesses across the country survive the shutdown.

While lawmakers continue to bicker over another round of stimulus, there is a bipartisan support for another round of the PPP funding—we just do not know when that will get here.

Jovita Carranza, Head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, visited Martinizing Drycleaners in Jacksonville on Friday.

The mom-and-pop owned business has been around for nearly two decades.

“We’ve In this business since 2002,” owner Cynthia Olson said, proudly.

Deemed an essential business, Olson’s doors remained open throughout the pandemic. However, she admitted she is struggling to make ends meet.

“Every morning, I wake up with my heart pounding,” Olson said. “Like is this going to be the day that I can stay in business or not?”

The PPP loan from the federal government certainly helped her stay afloat.

“I did get the $10,000 in the beginning in April,” Olson said. “That helped, because we had really nothing coming in.”

The way it works: you don’t have to pay the money back, but only if you meet the restrictions. At least 60% must be spent on payroll. You also have to commit to a number of full-time employees. While Olson qualified for the loan, other businesses did not, leaving billions of dollars untouched.

“We still have $130 billion remaining,” Jovita Carranza admitted during her visit. She toured some of the Florida businesses, this week, that received the PPE loan, including Olson’s.

Action News Jax reporter, Meghan Moriarty, asked what lawmakers are doing to extend the program and ensure all the money gets spent.

“Do you anticipate, when you’re bringing in more, that it is actually going to be used?” Moriarty asked.

“The $130 billion-- we’re actually pretty concerned that once we do make that available it will go as quickly as the first $300 billion that were available,” Carranza said.

Moriarty then asked when that money would be available, and when a next round of loans would be sent out.

“The timelines have not been specified at this point,” Carranza said.?

Cox Media Group