Small businesses are 'engaged and enraged — they’re hanging on for dear life'

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only turned the lives of millions of Americans upside down, but also the livelihoods of millions of small business owners. Anne Zimmerman, co-chair Small Business for America’s Future, joined Yahoo Finance to discuss small businesses’ plea to lawmakers to pass another round of stimulus immediately.

“Well, they’re telling us they’re engaged and enraged. They’re hanging on for dear life,” Zimmerman said. “What they want now is a national plan to get rid of this virus, to get it under control. Because without that, we’re not going to be able to do any kind of a return to normalcy,” she said.

“They want 150,000 PPPs [Paycheck Protection Program loans] forgiven, for sure. We need clarity on the taxability of these PPPs, and we need grants, not loans to those small businesses, truly small businesses that have been directly affected, not across the board, but to the small businesses that have been directly affected.”

Zimmerman points out that many of the small businesses impacted by COVID-19 have been those owned by women and people of color.

“They’re pushed to their limits. We polled over 1,500 people … and 34% say they can’t make it past the end of the year without some help from the government.”

Zimmerman says that many American small businesses are considering closing their doors permanently without a new round of stimulus from Washington.

“More than a third of them said they can’t make it past the end of the year if we don’t get a stimulus … Time is of the utmost importance, absolutely. We can’t afford to have this put off until after the election; small businesses employ half the people in this country.”

Zimmerman made it clear that if lawmakers do not come together on a stimulus package soon America’s economic recovery could stall.

“If we get this under control eventually, and we don’t have small businesses in place still alive, still viable to lead the way, I don’t think you’re going to see the recovery that you’re expecting.”

Reggie Wade is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @ReggieWade.

Read more:

Read more:

• 16-year-old student arrested for allegedly crippling Miami school system with cyberattack

• How retailers are combating the surge in online counterfeit goods

• New York City delays K-12 opening after pressure from country's largest teachers' union

• 27% of parents feel unsupported by their employers this back-to-school season: Survey

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and reddit.