mr. president, i rise today to introduce with my colleagues, senators rubio, cardin, and shaheen, legislation to strengthen the paycheck protection program which has proven to be such an important lifeline to america's small businesses and their employees during this pandemic. senators rubio, cardin, shaheen, and i worked together as part of the small business task

mr. president, i rise today to introduce with my colleagues, senators rubio, cardin, and shaheen, legislation to strengthen the paycheck protection program which has proven to be such an important lifeline to america's small businesses and their employees during this pandemic. senators rubio, cardin, shaheen, and i worked together as part of the small business task force to create this program during the development of the cares act two months ago. since its launch in early april, this program has provided forgivable loans totaling more than $510 billion to approximately 4.3 million small employers across the country. the overwhelming majority of borrowers are very small employers. in phase one of the program, the average p.p.p. loan size nationally was $206,000. that translates to an average employer size of just 18 employees. as more loans have been approved in phase two, the average loan size nationally has dropped to $118,000, suggesting an average business size of about ten employees. in maine, the average loan size is even smaller with borrowers having an estimated 12 employees in phase

mr. chairman. >> senator shaheen. >> congratulations, gentlemen. thank you for your willingness to consider serving at this challenging time and our history. general brown, i want to begin with you. i had the opportunity to speak with general goldfein earlier this week as you're probably aware that 157 air refueling wing at the national guard base in newew hampshire is the first national guard to receive the new kc-46 kc-46 tanker. i had the opportunity to be there when the first tank arrived, so i have followed this issue very closely. general goldfein seemed optimistic that the agreement that had been reached with boeing would provide a path forward to fix the remote vision system and some of the other problems with the tanker, but clearly we are still several years away from having tankers that are going to do the refueling that we want them to do. can you tell us how, if confirmed, he would keep the programm on track and ensure it is ridiculous it is possible to do its air refueling mission? >> senator, i think one of the cables i have is to co

mr. blumenthal: madam president, i want to thank my colleagues, senator cardin, senator shaheen, and senator schumer for their leadership on this issue in seeking better transparency and oversight with regard to a program that involves now almost a trillion taxpayer dollars. and i join senator schumer in the sentiment that our colleague from florida has been both sincere and bipartisan in his efforts on this program. but the fact of the matter is that this program, paycheck protection program, cries out for stronger oversight as does the entire cares package. we will be spending now an authorized $3 trillion, a federal budget, and then half again with little or no oversight. and we know that this program meets a need among small businesses that is absolutely critical. i have traveled my state via videoconference and telephone calls and communications of all kinds with small businesses around connecticut. and i have seen and heard firsthand how they are hanging by a thread struggling to keep their doors open and stay alive. this program gives them a lifetime. and it has in fact provided many

mrs. shaheen: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i'm pleased to be able to join my colleague, senator cardin, who is the ranking member on the small business and entrepreneurship com committee as well as minority leader schumer. i'm pleased that the chairman of the small business committee, senator rubio, is also here because senator cardin, senator rubio, senator collins and myself all worked on the paycheck protection program and the small business provisions that are in the cares package that we passed over five weeks ago. and i'm proud of our efforts to negotiate in a bipartisan way to help small businesses get through this crisis. not only did we pass in that first cares package $350 billion to help small business, but just a couple of weeks ago, congress also came together to pass an additional $370 billion for the paycheck protection program and the economic injury disaster loan programs. and our intent in passing that legislation is to deliver relief to small businesses that are truly hurting. small businesses are th

mrs. shaheen: thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i'm here to add my voice to the eloquence of both senators cramer and schumer about the need to recognize those people who were lost on the frank evans. we had two sailors from new hampshire who were lost that day ronald arthur tibbidault of manchester, new hampshire, joined the navy in 1967. he was assigned to the frank e. evans as radar man. ron was on watch during the collision. he was lost at sea, leaving behind a young son. and gary joseph bigeau of farmington, new hampshire, was also on watch that night during the fatal collision. gary had married his high school sweetheart a few weeks before he reported to the frank evans in 1968. gary also left behind a young son and his two brothers who still live in new hampshire. these two men, gary and ron, gave their lives for this country. these men were supporting operations during the vietnam war, and they were planning to return to vietnam waters once the training exercise was over. so just like all those other people who were

mr. president, i rise today to introduce with my colleagues, senators rubio, cardin, and shaheen, legislation to strengthen the paycheck protection program which has proven to be such an important lifeline to america's small businesses and their employees during this pandemic. senators rubio, cardin, shaheen, and i worked together as part of the small business task force to create this program during the development of the cares act two months ago. since its launch in early april, this program has provided forgivable loans totaling more than $510 billion to approximately 4.3 million small employers across the country. the overwhelming majority of borrowers are very small employers. in phase one of the program, the average p.p.p. loan size nationally was $206,000. that translates to an average employer size of just 18 employees. as more loans have been approved in phase two, the average loan size nationally has dropped to $118,000, suggesting an average business size of about ten employees. in maine, the average loan size is even smaller with borrowers having an estimated 12 employees in phase