Today U.S. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) sent a letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabella Guzman blasting the SBA for its poor performance in administering the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program. The SVOG program, which was authorized by Congress in December, is a relief program intended for movie theatres, museums, and other entertainment venues that have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Congress has provided the program with more than $16 billion in appropriations, but after almost six months, only a small fraction of venue operators have actually received their grants from the SBA.

“This is unacceptable," the senators write. "Venue operators from our states have contacted our offices expressing considerable frustration with this laggard pace. This frustration is justified. These businesses do not need money next week or next month. They need money today, right now. They needed the money in January and in February and in March, and yet are still waiting for relief in June--almost six months after the SVOG program was authorized by Congress."

Full text of the letter is available here and below.

June 17, 2021

The Honorable Isabella Casillas Guzman
Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration 
409 3rd Street, SW 
Washington, D.C. 20416

Dear Administrator Guzman,

We write with serious concern about the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) poor performance in implementing and administering the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program.

As you know, Congress established the SVOG program in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and has provided the program with more than $16 billion in appropriations. This funding was intended to provide critical relief to movie theatres, museums, and other entertainment venues—a sector that has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed upon it by state and local governments.

Unfortunately, this critical relief has yet to be distributed to venue operators. According to the most recent data set published by the SBA on June 14, 2021, venue operators have submitted 14,214 applications requesting $11.5 billion in funding. However, thus far, only 411 grants have been approved for a total of $304.2 million. Remarkably, out of the already-small number of venue operators who have even had their applications approved, only a few have actually receives their grants. This is unacceptable.

Venue operators from our states have contacted our offices expressing considerable frustration with this laggard pace. This frustration is justified. These businesses do not need money next week or next month. They need money today, right now. They needed the money in January and in February and in March, and yet are still waiting for relief in June—almost six months after the SVOG program was authorized by Congress. We urge you to distribute the congressionally authorized relief funding to qualified applicants as soon as possible.

Given the SBA’s poor performance in administering the SVOG program, we request the following information by June 24, 2021:

  1. Please provide a full accounting of how the SBA has used congressionally appropriated funding intended to enhance the agency’s administrative capacity to ensure that SVOG program applications are processed expeditiously without jeopardizing program integrity.
  2. Please provide an estimated timeline of when the SBA will distribute funding to the 411 SVOG program applicants that have had their applications approved. 
  3. Please provide an estimated timeline of when the SBA will complete the review process for the 4,982 SVOG program applications currently under review.
  4. Please provide an estimated timeline of when the SBA will begin the review process for the 8,821 SVOG program applications that have been submitted but that are not currently under review. Please provide an estimated timeline of when the SBA will complete the review process for these applications.
  5. Please provide a full accounting of what communication, if any, the SBA has had with the venue operators that have submitted applications to the SVOG program. Please provide details as to whether the SBA is responsive to the venue operators’ requests for updates, and whether the SBA has provided these applicants with an expected timeline of when their applications will be reviewed, processed, and approved.  

Sincerely,

Josh Hawley 
United States Senator
                      
Jim Risch 
United States Senator
                   
Todd Young 
United States Senator 

Issues
Small Business