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talks about the spread of the virus and the latest data on how well is being controlled. join the conversation, monday night it :00 p.m. eastern, on c-span. -- dr. rimoin. caitlin go to politicos who was on the line here to talk about what is going on with the federal small business loan program. good morning. >> thank you for having me. first, tell us what the paycheck protection program is and why is it out of money? guest: right. this, basically, small business letting program was crated by the $2 trillion economic rescue program -- package that congress care last month. this pot of loans totaled 350 billion dollars. it was meant to serve as a bailout for small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. it was supposed to serve as this

incentive to keep employees on their payroll. so you can apply for this loan. as long as you are promising to keep your employees and you're not going to fire anybody. you will keep paying everybody the amount they were making. in exchange, the loan could be forgiven. proven anf money has arm as they popular. it ran out of money -- proven enormously popular. it ran out of money. that was expected all week. congress is deadlocked in terms of what to do. weight swiftly replenish the funds for justice program, or do we provide funding for other parities as well? theo we swiftly replenish funds for just this program? for: can companies use this things other than employee paychecks? guest: it was primarily drafted as an incentive to keep employees on the payroll.

in exchange for the funds, the loan can be forgiven, if you promise to essentially retain all of your employees and maintain their salaries as well. this has proven enormous the popular. -- and nor mostly -- it has proven very popular. 1.6 million loans have been made and it was exhausted quickly once the program was stood up. it was not without glitches. the small business administration, which ran the program, experienced a lot of technical difficulties. there are a lot of issues in applying. it definitely did not-you cannot say went off without a hitch. the program has gotten blowback. for example, major restaurants, chains, have qualified for some of the loans.

you have a lot of legitimate small business owners saying that is not a small business. there has been pushed back. -- there definitely has been pushed back but the program has been popular and will need to be replenished quickly. host: what is the congress conversation right now about getting more money into this program? is our partisan divide over whether the program is worth it, or are they arguing about something completely different? guest: definitely not a partisan divide over whether the program is worth it. both democrats and republicans realize that small businesses are very much in need of more money and this program needs to be replenished. you have house speaker nancy pelosi and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell in agreement on that. that is prevents the only thing they agree on. speaker pelosi and house democrats what conditions placed on any new infusion of funds. for example, how because want to

, atre that any new funds least some of that is flowing to community-based lenders, underserved lenders, underserved small businesses, owned by women and minorities and veterans. that they are ultimately getting some of this money and are not being cut out. in addition, house democrats also want to provide what had billion for- $150 state and local governments and $100 billion for hospitals. and to increase the maximum foodstamp benefit. theseicans are saying priorities are not as urgent as a small business need. this small business program it ran out of money. states have not run out of money yet. the $2 trillion economic package last month provided one header forillion -- $150 billion

states. they are arguing that the small business program needs action now and that these other programs can wait until congress comes back in early may. and that they can negotiate then. but democrats are insistent that state and local governments are signaling a dire need, just like small businesses at this time. just like health care providers. they saying that this is stream the urgent it requires a urgent action as well. .- this is extremely urgent and it requires urgent action as well. we started to see signs of progress yesterday. the houseman already leader kevin mccarthy said congressional leaders were inching along when it came to figuring out what to do. newsletterelly bushes in the morning -- politico has a daily newsletter that publishes in the morning and afternoon. it has details on what a

framework might look like, not finalized and subject to change. but it does appear there is maybe an agreement forming around possibly providing more for smallillion businesses, in addition to funds for community-based lenders. maybe $75 billion for hospitals. all of those details, subject to change. it is possible we can see an agreement early next week. host: last question. is anyone checking to make sure that the businesses who are getting these loans are using the money for what it is supposed to be used for? we were member during the last depression, corporations got government funding and used it for stock buybacks. is there anyone checking behind this money to be sure it is being used for what they say they needed it for? well, the huge economic relief package congress passed last month was the

largest infusion ever of federal funds into the economy. definitely eclipsing the 2008 financial crisis. that did come with a number of oversight provisions, which are slowly getting off the ground at the moment. basically, when it comes to small business loans, that comes with its own oversight, but in terms of the other big pieces of the bill, congressional leaders found that it was very much necessary to have a three-pronged oversight approach . when it comes to implantation of this huge relief package. -- implementation of this usually package. in those three things are still-again this was passed three weeks ago but not the oversight protections are there. there are provisions that prevent recipients, especially corporations, from stock

buybacks, from executive bonuses and things like that. but, basically, congress is trying to establish a five-member congressional panel that will oversee, not the small business loans, but the separate $500 billion corporate relief fund for big businesses, big distress industries. in addition to a special inspector general appointed by the president and confirmed by the senator -- by the senate who will also oversee those funds. as the third prong of oversight, a pandemic relief panel made up of inspector generals across the federal government, who will oversee general implantation of the bill. but those three things are still kind of getting off the ground. have already seen growing pains. the president has gotten criticism for intervening too much in the process and trying to interfere with oversight. hopefully, the next few weeks we will see those oversight

protections become a fully formed. like to thank you, budget appropriations reporter for politico, for coming on this morning, and getting the conversation started about the small business loan and paycheck protection program. guest: thank you. >> the white house did not release a weekly address from the president. at bennieresented thompson of mississippi, the homeland security chair, gave the democratic address, discussing widespread coronavirus testing and the federal response to the pandemic. congressmane is , from theompson second district of minnis it -- of mississippi. the coronavirus pandemic is one of the most challenging adversaries our country has faced. many americans have faced