Tillis visits Charlotte to tout PPP business loans, but skips RNC festivities
Less than three miles from the Republican National Convention where President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appeared Monday, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., was holding an event of his own.
Tillis spoke with employees at Engineering Sales Associates in south Charlotte about the importance of the $659 billion Paycheck Protection Program for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he called a “big, bold, fast” effort to avoid a financial collapse.
In what he called “crazy, uncertain times,” Arthur Pue, president of Engineering Sales Associates, described the PPP loans as a lifeline for the business, which provides service and equipment for compressed air systems.
“We’ve been in business 60 years and never once did we face a threat like we did in the past six months,” Pue said. He said they learned they were approved for a $230,000 loan just days after making the “tough decision” to furlough some employees.
The loan allowed them to bring back some employees, replace those who decided to retire, and hire more to remain whole, he said.
Tillis said he wants more than $150 billion in additional PPP funding, and favors expediting the loan forgiveness process for businesses who received smaller amounts. He said he is also in favor of expanding aid to companies that didn’t qualify under the initial guidelines.
The PPP loans have become a central issue in the race between Tillis and his Democratic opponent, Cal Cunningham. The contest is considered one of the closest in the nation, and could help determine which party holds a majority in the Senate.
Tillis denounced Cunningham for criticizing the PPP, as Cunningham’s former company received up to $2 million from the loan program. Cunningham has said he supports the loan program but that it had not helped minority-owned businesses enough. He also has said he left the company, WasteZero, in March and had nothing to do with the loan.
“Independent fact-checkers have already confirmed that Senator Tillis is misleading voters about Cal’s support for the Paycheck Protection Program,” Cunningham campaign spokesman Aaron Simpson said in a statement Monday.
“Instead of holding campaign events to lob misleading attacks at Cal, Senator Tillis should be in Washington actually doing his job by passing the next round of pandemic relief and ending his silence on the postal cuts that are hurting North Carolina veterans and communities.”
Tillis praised President Trump’s agenda while in Charlotte on Monday, though he didn’t attend his party’s biggest event of the 2020 campaign season.
A longtime Trump supporter, Tillis said he would have attended the RNC if it were the full-capacity event organizers planned more than two years ago, but said he does plan to be in Washington on Thursday when President Trump will accept the GOP nomination in a speech at the White House.
“We’re going to do everything we can to get President Trump re-elected and I believe he’s going to win and I believe I’m going to win,” he said, lauding the economic conditions in the months before the pandemic hit and crediting the president’s policies.
Tillis also said Monday that more federal funding is needed for airlines, schools, and $10 billion for the U.S. Postal Service. He also called for the next federal COVID-19 relief bill to include liability protections for employers to protect them from potential lawsuits by employees who get sick.
Democrats have criticized the liability protections as a threat to employees forced back to work under unsafe conditions.
Tillis lauded employees present at Monday’s event, where everyone wore a mask, hand sanitizer was present and people mostly stayed at a distance.
He said it was important for businesses to operate safely, but said such liability protections for businesses that follow health guidelines are necessary “because someone can allege they got the virus” at work and sue their employer.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 3:43 PM.
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