“And we want to make sure, particularly minority businesses, which what I’m hearing here in Michigan are not getting the kind of funding they need to survive and then to prosper. They need to be able to get that money.”
In case you missed it, Senator Gary Peters joined Katy Tur on MSNBC yesterday to discuss his work to ensure that Michigan’s small businesses, particularly minority owned businesses, receive needed relief, and his proposed ‘Heroes Fund’ legislation that would provide front line workers with hazard pay through the end of the year.
As workers and their families continue to feel an increased economic strain, Senator Peters is working to get them the funding and extra pay they need to make it through this crisis.
- On Minority Owned Small Businesses In Michigan: As we start opening up the economy, if we find our small businesses have gone out of business it’s going to be very difficult to get it restarted. So we need to help them, but we need to be focused on those businesses that are the most damaged, those that need the help the most. And we want to make sure, particularly minority businesses, which what I’m hearing here in Michigan are not getting the kind of funding they need to survive and then to prosper. They need to be able to get that money. Other small businesses who may not have been first in line as the program went forward. You know and part of it certainly if you are a very large customer with a bank you were probably at the front of the line, but it’s all those other businesses that weren’t necessarily big customers of the bank but are in desperate need of money to stay in business.
- On The Heroes Fund And Hazard Pay For Front Line Workers: Well, that’s something I’m pushing as the ‘Heroes Act’ that we have folks who are definitely in harm’s way. They have to go to work. One, they have to go to work because that’s how they make their living, but the rest of us need them to go to work as well. For us to be able to shelter at home or those that are fortunate enough to be able to work from home and use the internet to continue our business, we need folks who are on the front lines doing work. Not just our health professionals, although they are certainly heroes the doctors and nurses, but it’s also the custodial staff, it’s the janitors that make sure those hospitals are clean. They are putting themselves and families at risk. But it’s grocery workers, folks in pharmacies. And that’s why we’re proposing a ‘Heroes Act’, something that I’m pushing that everybody in one of those central jobs that we need to have work so that our economy continues to function and yet they put themselves and families at risk. They should not just get our thanks, they should also get additional money in their pocket and that’s why I have a proposal that those individuals would get an additional $13 per hour on top of what they normally pay. It’s basically hazard pay for doing essential work for us and putting themselves and their families at risk.
