On July 17, 2020, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced that the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has helped more than 33,000 businesses in the Fifth District thus far, according to new data released recently from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

PPP was created by Congress in the bipartisan CARES Act, to provide aid directly to small businesses and organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic and to keep Americans employed.

“It’s great to see how these resources are helping so many Fifth District small businesses, helping to retain so many jobs, and helping ensure workers can provide for their families. I’m going to continue fighting for increased transparency into PPP loans and to claw more investment back to North Jersey,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “We have been in the eye of the COVID-19 storm and I know times are extremely tough for many businesses and their employees, but I remain committed to helping them access PPP resources and investment so our North Jersey’s hardworking families, communities, and businesses can recover.”  

Gottheimer continued, “Congress needs to continue to further improve this program, and we must consider expanding PPP to allow our hardest hit businesses to apply for a second round of the forgivable loans, especially now that we’ve increased flexibility.”

So far, in the entire State of New Jersey, businesses have received more than 148,000 PPP loans, totaling more than $17.1 billion to businesses in the Garden State.

Gottheimer recently announced that PPP helped retain more than 183,000 jobs in the Fifth District thus far.

In New Jersey, small businesses are the backbones of each community, with 99.6% of all New Jersey businesses being small businesses and employing half of the state’s entire workforce.

###