Jared Moskowitz bill would clear $8B in loans to hurricane-hit small businesses

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz wants to ensure that small businesses don’t get financially washed away in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. He just filed legislation to keep that from happening.

Moskowitz, a Parkland Democrat, introduced a bill to authorize sending $8 billion to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for hurricane relief efforts.

Since Helene struck Florida late last month, wreaking havoc across several states and killing more than 230 people, the SBA has received at least 3,000 loan applications daily. Congress did not include additional funding for the loan program last month, when it approved a stopgap spending bill to keep the government operational, and it’s on track to potentially run out by the end of October.

Moskowitz, the immediate past Director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, stressed that the SBA is a “lifeline for so many communities after a disaster” and its funding and that of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) should have been proactively done months ago.

He called for a separate, $15 billion supplemental appropriation for FEMA last week.

“The devastation we’re seeing across the Southeast, especially in North Carolina and Florida, requires immediate congressional action,” Moskowitz said in a statement Tuesday.

“My bill to fund the SBA will help families and workers impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton survive until their communities recover.”

Moskowitz’s new measure comes as Milton bears down on Florida, promising catastrophic flooding and wind damage. As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, forecasts show the now-Category 4 storm on a collision course with the Tampa Bay area, carrying sustained winds of 150 mph and threatening storm surges of up to 15 feet in the hardest-hit areas.

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said Monday that the path and impacts meteorologists predict for the maelstrom are “almost identical” to a worst-case scenario for a hurricane hitting the state’s Gulf Coast.