Miami, FL — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, released the following statement after the announcement that a deal was reached to fund the Paycheck Protection Program, which lapsed five days ago. 
 
“For more than a week, small businesses and their employees were held hostage after my Democratic colleagues blocked additional funding for the PPP,” Chairman Rubio said. “This long-overdue deal will finally allow the SBA to resume approving PPP loans. It will also help preserve funds for mission lenders like Community Development Financial Institutions in order to ensure small businesses in underserved and rural communities have access to PPP loans. When these funds run out, we cannot allow partisan games to once again jeopardize the lives and the livelihoods of Americans.”