Mike Surlina by his semi-trailer
AIRPORT VOICE, APRIL 2020 33
Congress people
contact Treasury
PPP needs to include minorities
89 members of Congress, including
Senator Schumer, wrote a letter
to the U.S. Dept. of Treasury
and U.S. SBA, requesting that they
ensure equitable access to the Paycheck
Protection Program. The
members of Congress wrote that
the Small Business Administration
must ensure that minority-owned
businesses are not shut out of the
program and require lenders to report
on the demographics of any
PPP lending.
Letter send to Secretary
Mnuchin and Administrator Carranza:
Congress authorized the
Paycheck Protection Program
(PPP) to provide financial support
and stability to small businesses affected
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet we continue to hear from minority
owned businesses that they
face structural barriers to acquiring
these loans. To ensure equitable
access to this program, the U.S.
Small Business Administration
(SBA) must ensure that minorityowned
businesses are not shut out
of this program and require lenders
to report on the demographics
of any PPP lending. We also request
that the SBA and Treasury amend
guidance on PPP to reaffirm lending
institutions’ obligation to comply
with fair lending laws. Small
business lending discrimination remains
a pressing public policy challenge.
The Federal Reserve Banks’
2016 Small Business Credit Survey
found that of all minority-owned
firms approved for loans, only 40
percent received the full amount
requested, compared to 68 percent
of white-owned firms with similar
credit scores.1 The Minority Business
Development Agency (MBDA)
reported that minority-owned businesses
are less likely to apply for
small business loans due to fear of
rejection.2 Without affirmative attention
from policymakers, these
disparities likely will repeat in PPP
loans.
The Paycheck Protection Program
is a first-come, first-served
program, leaving those without existing
bank relationships or lines
of business credit at a major disadvantage.
People of color are less
likely to be approved for a loan, and
when they are approved, it is often
for smaller amounts with higher
interest rates than those offered to
similarly situated white borrowers.
To that end, we urge you to
work with lenders to ensure fair access
and require lenders to report
on PPP lending to minority-owned
businesses relative to their overall
lending through the program. This
data must include information on
loan applicants and outcomes, disaggregated
along racial and ethnic
lines. Additionally, though issued
guidance excludes applicants with
criminal history, including those
who were charged but never convicted
and those who have already
served their sentences, nothing in
the CARES Act requires this prohibition.
This guidance is especially
troubling considering the rampant
racial disparities in our criminal
justice system. This exclusion exacerbates
existing inequities in access
to credit and lenders should
report the number of loans rejected
on this basis.
Even as overall business formation
fell, minority-owned businesses
accounted for half of all new
businesses created in the last decade.
Between 2007 and 2017, minority
owned businesses managed
to grow at ten times the rate of all
small businesses, dispelling any
notions about their viability4 .
The success of minority-owned
businesses in the face of structural
discrimination only underscores
the necessity of fair lending laws
and the duty to enforce them. Unfortunately,
the interim final rule
issued by SBA makes no mention
of protections like the Equal Credit
Opportunity Act (ECOA) or the
Truth in Lending Act (TILA), raising
doubts about the Administration’s
commitment to enforce fair
lending laws essential to protecting
small businesses seeking to participate
in the PPP. We urge you to revise
the interim final rule to reaffirm
that fair lending protections
apply to PPP loans.
As we work to secure additional
funding for the survival of small
businesses across the country, it is
crucial that we can verify the accessibility
of federal assistance to all
eligible companies. Without stringent
reporting, we can neither confirm
racial disparities nor correct
any exclusionary lending practices
under the Paycheck Protection Program.
The story of minorityowned
businesses struggling to access
capital is the story of banking practices
that too often exclude people
of color as potential customers. A
federally guaranteed loan program
must not do the same. We urge
you to move forward with the data
transparency and fair lending protections
outlined in this letter, and
we request a response by April 23,
2020.
JFK trucker waits 5 days
Sleeps in truck awaiting freight
BY JEFF YAPALATER
BIP Freight’s Mike
Surlina waits for a new
freight shipment to be
consigned at JFK Airport.
His original load
was cancelled and now
has waited 5 days for
another consignment.
He was paid $250 for
a cancellation, now sits
in his semi-trailer tractor,
eats cheap fast food
and hopes for a load back
to his home base in Chicago. Mike is one of the many stories of drivers
in the cargo business that endure long drives, uncertain wait times for
cargo, traffic congestion, food on the run, and sleep in their trucks while
they provide a valuable service moving goods from airports to cities in
need of food, equipment, and more recently critical medical supplies.
According to his dispatcher, the cargo business has slowed considerably
except for medical shipments, so drivers like Mike are having to wait
around in their rigs for consignments for other goods.
Airforwarders applaud CARES Act.
Association calls for more relief
The CARES Act delivers $2.2
trillion in direct payments to Americans,
provides loans and grants for
businesses and gives states muchneeded
money for public health,
personal protective equipment
(PPE) and to help first hospitals,
medical centers, doctors and other
first responders on the front line of
this accelerating pandemic.
$2.2 trillion will help American
businesses and consumers, but lack
of specific language for forwarders
is worrisome, needs addressing.
The Airforwarders Association
joins all Americans as we thank
Congress for their speedy passage,
first in the Senate and then the
House, of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief
and Economic (CARES) Act.
Clearly this continues to be an
evolving situation and while specific
provisions the Airforwarders
Association called for in our letter
are not in this round of legislation,
we are actively pursuing inclusion
of relief specifically for freight forwarders
and their affiliates in subsequent
upcoming COVID-19 legislative
initiatives.
The AfA’s letter was sent to the
White House and the Majority and
Minority leadership in both houses
and relevant committees. We laid
out in detail what we felt our members
could benefit from including
regulatory relief, financial assistance
and the continued assurances
of the availability of affordable and
sufficient air cargo lift in the coming
days and weeks ahead.
“Where other air cargo industry
stakeholders including aircraft
manufacturers, airlines, airports
and ground handlers were specifically
cited and had billions of
dollars specifically allocated, the
freight forwarder who serves as the
key intermediary between shippers
and those entities went unmentioned,”
says Brandon Fried, AfA
Executive Director.
“Without question, we understand
the importance of a viable,
functioning air cargo system to
support both the current relief efforts
and the future economic recovery,
but it is disconcerting to the
point of negligence that our voices
as the businesses acting as the hub
to this wheel of commerce went unfunded.”
The Airforwarders Association
believes firmly that the CARES Act
will not be the last piece of legislation
required to support America
during and after this pandemic.
Even as this becomes law, we have
already contacted the offices of specific
Representatives and Senators
who have supported air cargo and
freight forwarders in the past to enlist
their help in ensuring that we
are implicitly included by name at
this critical time in our industry.