100+ CEOs beg Congress: Don't let small businesses fail permanently

Yahoo Finance's Sibile Marcellus joins Kristin Myers to discuss why over 100 CEOs are pushing lawmakers for additional COVID-19 relief for small businesses.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: Well, CEOs have been warning Congress of huge consequences for small-business owners if they don't get relief. For more, we have Yahoo Finance's Sibile Marcellus. Hey, Sibile.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: That's right. So what we're seeing is that America's CEOs are writing a letter to Congress. About a hundred of them signed it, including the CEO of Disney, Merck, and Walmart. And what they're asking is for lawmakers to actually give small businesses more financial support, more federal loans that are deployed more quickly.

They're asking them to use the Paycheck Protection Program infrastructure and the approved lenders that are already there to get the money out as quickly as possible. They're saying the Paycheck Protection Program, while it was helpful, it's temporary and, in fact, not all small businesses were even able to access it. So what they're asking for is more loans more quickly and also more flexibility for borrowers, for small businesses so they can use the money in the best way they see fit to get-- to keep their business afloat.

And what we're seeing is that this letter is coming from so many CEOs, and we're talking about small businesses ranging from retailers to restaurants to manufacturers to consultants. So clearly there is a massive need for lawmakers to come up with this next round of fiscal stimulus.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right. Thanks so much, Sibile. Always able to give us a lot in a little bit of time.