U.S. David Perdue (right) talks with Georgia business owners about the Paycheck Protection Program at Vinings Bank in Cobb County on Aug. 19, 2020. (Photo by Perdue Senate office)
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., met with business owners in metro Atlanta Wednesday to field input on the benefits and hurdles of a federal loan program set up to help struggling companies survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The roundtable talk at Vinings Bank, which has lent millions to local businesses in recent months, came amid stalled talks in Congress over another trillion-dollar round of federal COVID-19 relief that would include additional loans via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Perdue said after the talk that congressional Republicans and Democrats have “pretty much agreed” on another package of PPP loans totaling roughly $200 billion, with an emphasis on small businesses hit particularly hard by the virus’ economic impacts like restaurants.
“We think that will be enough to bridge this remainder, hopefully, for these small companies,” Perdue said.
PPP loans were doled out starting in April as an incentive to keep employees on the company payroll, with forgivable loans figuring as a major part of emergency measures aimed at propping up businesses as states shut down economic sectors in the pandemic’s early days.
As of Aug. 8, nearly 175,000 loans totaling more than $14.6 billion have been approved for businesses in Georgia, while more than 5.2 million loans worth roughly $525 billion have gone out nationwide, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The loan program stopped accepting new applications earlier this month per a legal deadline, though roughly $130 billion allocated for the program has yet to be spent.
Many businesses struggled with getting loan applications approved and have since faced uncertainty over whether their loans will be forgiven, Perdue said Wednesday. Congress initially required businesses to spend 75% of the loans on payroll costs, then reduced that requirement to 60% in June.
Perdue said congressional lawmakers aim to clean up “murky” language in legislation authorizing more PPP loans that should help ease companies’ concerns over the forgiveness terms.
Resolving loan-forgiveness issues will be key for helping companies cope with PPP loans they have already received and those they may seek if more funding is approved for the program, said Clark Hungerford, president of Vinings Bank.
The Cobb County community bank has issued more than 750 loans totaling about $180 million since March to a range of companies from car dealerships and insurance firms to mom-and-pop shops and a convenience store chain, Hungerford said Wednesday after the roundtable talk.
Many small companies need federal officials to resolve forgiveness issues quickly so that their financial futures won’t be left up in the air amid indecision by Congress.
“It’s important to get these things forgiven,” Hungerford said. “The process for getting them forgiven is stopped. It doesn’t have to stop.”
Local companies that participated in Wednesday’s talk with Perdue included AMK Energy, The School Box, Wade Ford, Sojourn Church and Brokers Unlimited.
Gov. Brian Kemp has issued a first wave of federal funding to help prop up K-12 public schools and universities in Georgia aiming to restart in-person classes and continue online instruction amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor’s office is distributing more than $80 million for Georgia schools to bolster internet connections for virtual learning, mental health services, support for independent colleges, online classes for technical colleges, a construction-training program and funds for early child-care assistance.
Those funds mark a large chunk of the $105 million Kemp has on hand to give schools through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
“These are challenging times for our state, but we will continue to work around the clock to support our students and teachers, improve outcomes, and get people back to work,” Kemp said in a statement. “Together, we will protect the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.”
More than $29 million will go to Georgia’s 2,300 K-12 schools for broadband signal extenders and support for distance learning on campus as many schools labor to hold classes online during the pandemic.
Also reserved for online options is an allocation of more than $10 million for the Technical College System of Georgia to bolster online courses and programs.
Additionally, $11 million will go to the University of Georgia to administer mental health services in schools, $10 million to the Georgia Independent College Association for relief efforts and more than $3 million to the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia to expand a workforce training program.
The state Department of Early Care and Learning will receive between $17 and $19 million to boost child-care options for parents who need to return to work and have children between ages 5 and 12 whose schools are holding classes virtually.
Many Georgia students began returning to in-person classes this month for the 2020-21 school year, following statewide school closures in March that prompted students to complete courses online.
As the fall semester kicks off, state officials have left it to local school districts whether to hold classes in person or start off with virtual learning. Public K-12 students are not required to wear masks to school, while the University System of Georgia is enforcing a mask mandate.
The state Department of Education released guidelines over the summer to help local districts decide how to hold classes in the fall via a mix of in-person classes and online instruction options. Some schools have paused in-person classes after outbreaks of COVID-19 positive cases.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (left), U.S. Rep. Doug Collins (center) and Rev. Raphael Warnock (right) are competing in the Nov. 3 special election.
Candidates vying to unseat U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler in Georgia put out campaign ads Wednesday as the race enters a new voter-outreach phase, notably via the first television spot aired by the leading Democratic contender.
Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democratic challenger who has amassed millions in donations and endorsements from top party leaders, released his campaign’s first ad Wednesday highlighting his background and focus on health care, workers’ issues and voting rights.
The senior pastor from Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church is angling to boost his name recognition after sitting on the airwave sidelines so far in the campaign. In the ad, he emphasizes his roots growing up in a Savannah housing project while walking down the sidewalk outside his childhood home.
“I’m Raphael Warnock and I realize that a kid growing up here today and struggling families all across Georgia have it harder now than I did back then,” Warnock says in the ad. “That’s gotta change, and it will.”
Also releasing a new ad Wednesday was U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, who has peppered Loeffler with attacks for months as he seeks to pull Republican support from her ahead of the special election on Nov. 3.
Collins in the ad touts his support for President Donald Trump and recent praise the president has given him, marking a departure from Collins’ last ad that homed in on controversial stock trades Loeffler made at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Casting Collins as the president’s “most tested, proven, trusted defender,” the latest ad features footage of Collins backing Trump during last year’s impeachment proceedings in the U.S. House of Representatives and glowing words the president made about Collins at a recent stop in Atlanta.
Trump, a Republican, has a track record of giving GOP candidates a big boost with his endorsement but so far has stayed out of the battle between Loeffler and Collins. Both have received public praise from the president in recent weeks.
Loeffler, an Atlanta businesswoman who was appointed to retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s seat earlier this year, has tapped her huge campaign war chest to run ads touting her early work in the Senate and attacking Collins’ background as a former criminal defense attorney.
Ads supporting Loeffler, who has put $15 million of her own money into the campaign so far, have also aired from a political action committee with ties to Gov. Brian Kemp, who appointed Loeffler.
The Nov. 3 election is an open election, meaning candidates from all parties will be on the same ballot. It has drawn 21 candidates including Loeffler. A runoff between the top two finishers will be held in January if no candidate gains a simple majority.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) speaks at a campaign stop with Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp (center) and state Rep. Jodi Lott (right) at the Penley Art Gallery in Buckhead on Aug. 18, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., defended her background as a successful businesswoman during a campaign stop in Atlanta Tuesday to mark the 100-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote.
Loeffler, an Atlanta businesswoman who has poured $15 million of her own money into her U.S. Senate bid so far, has faced criticism from opponents over large attack ad buys and her use of a private jet on the campaign trail.
Speaking at the Penley Art Gallery in Buckhead Tuesday, Loeffler embraced her background as an example of American capitalistic success while stressing that she knows “what it’s like to live paycheck-to-paycheck” after working her way through college and in the business world.
“I’ve been attacked for my success,” Loeffler said. “And I’m going to keep fighting against that because in this country, I’m fighting for every single American’s right and opportunity to live the American Dream.”
Flanked by paintings of historical figures and a replica 1957 Porsche Spyder, Loeffler described her upbringing in an Illinois farm family and waitressing in college before joining Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which now owns the New York Stock Exchange. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the company’s founder and CEO.
“Not only am I the true conservative in this race, but I know how to create jobs and economic opportunity that lifts all Americans up, that promotes equality in our country,” Loeffler said. “And on this 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, that message is more important than ever.”
Loeffler also hailed local community leadership work by Georgia women amid the anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification and noted she has fielded support from many conservative women during her campaign so far.
“We can no longer be a silent majority,” Loeffler said. “We need to speak out.”
Loeffler’s comments came as millions of Americans including more than 3.4 million people in Georgia have filed for unemployment benefits in recent months amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Loeffler and her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, have opposed extending $600 weekly federal unemployment checks.
Loeffler has also faced broadsides from Collins’ campaign over her financial resources, which the four-term Republican congressman from Gainesville has sought to cast as an effort to buy her way to winning a Senate seat she was appointed to in January, following former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson’s retirement.
“Loeffler was picked because she was a wealthy self-funding moderate who could compete for more liberal suburban voters,” said Dan McLagan, a spokesman for Collins. “When Doug Collins got in the race, she had to pretend to be a conservative – to ‘out-Doug Doug’ as it were.”
Collins’ campaign most recently took issue with an ad from Loeffler that dinged Collins for voting in favor of a 1% infrastructure tax referendum while he was a state lawmaker in the General Assembly. His campaign has dismissed the ad as disingenuous.
The campaign pointed out Loeffler supported the tax referendum in a news article while International Exchange, where she was head of investor relations at the time, spent $100,000 in campaign contributions to back the referendum.
“This election may well be the biggest test of whether money can overwhelm truth in a statewide campaign,” McLagan said.
Loeffler is scheduled to hold a 14-county campaign tour starting next month with appearances by U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Gov. Brian Kemp, who appointed her to hold Isakson’s seat until the special election on Nov. 3.
She will also be joined by Kemp’s wife, Georgia First Lady Marty Kemp, who heads up Loeffler’s “Women for Kelly” women-driven supporter group and who also spoke at Tuesday’s stop in Buckhead, along with state Rep. Jodi Lott, R-Evans.
Collins, meanwhile, is set for a swing through South Georgia next week alongside state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, following a stop in Fayetteville Tuesday evening for a meeting of the Greater Fayette Republican Women’s Club.
The race’s leading Democratic candidate, Rev. Raphael Warnock, has held virtual campaign appearances since last week with influential state Democratic leaders like former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and 7th Congressional District Democratic candidate Carolyn Bourdeaux, and is poised to stump via video feed later this week with Augusta, Macon and Spalding County Democrats and U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff.
Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, has made voting rights a focal point of his campaign and praised the women of the suffrage movement in honor of the 19th Amendment’s ratification centennial on Tuesday.
“We still have a long road ahead of us,” Warnock said. “The wage gap for female entrepreneurs in Georgia is the largest of any state. But today, we celebrate and honor the women who have taken the first steps down that path toward equality and recommit ourselves to working even harder for change.”
This story has been update to revise the headline and to clarify Sen. Loeffler’s comments as well as provide additional comment from her speech.
ATLANTA – A rapidly growing e-commerce mattress and furniture company will build its first North American advanced manufacturing plant in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Tuesday.
Zinus USA Inc. will invest $108 million and create 840 jobs at the new plant in McDonough.
“This international company with a strong worldwide reach will enjoy a true home in Henry County, Georgia,” Kemp said after a ceremonial signing with company officials. “I’m confident that, combined with our unparalleled logistics network and pro-business environment, their business will find more new opportunities and succeed.”
Launched in South Korea, Zinus Inc. has expanded to 20 countries across the globe and plans to continue growing its international footprint in the coming years.
Zinus has several distribution centers across the U.S., but the McDonough plant will become its first U.S. manufacturing plant. The company’s other manufacturing facilities are in Indonesia and China.
“As we continue to grow into new markets and expand our own vertical integration capabilities, establishing our first-ever production center in the U.S. is a critical step in our evolution as a global business,” said Keith Reynolds, president of Zinus USA.
“Georgia was a natural choice when considering the location for our new facility. … Not only will this investment ensure we can better serve partners like Walmart, Amazon, Wayfair, and Costco, but it will allow us to continue delivering high-value products at affordable prices to our loyal customers for years to come.”
The new plant is expected to open in the first half of next year and will also serve as a U.S. distribution center for the company.
Director of Korean Investment Yoonie Kim represented the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Global Commerce division in putting together the deal. The state agency worked in partnership with the Henry County Development Authority, Georgia Quick Start, and Georgia EMC.
