Congressional panel slams Fed’s Main Street Lending Program – By Jim Saksa (Roll Call) / Aug 7 2020
Potential borrowers get better terms elsewhere
The Main Street Lending Program, a $600 billion loan facility set up by the Federal Reserve with $75 billion from the Treasury Department, is supposed to be a life preserver for midsize companies too big for the Paycheck Protection Program and too small to issue debt in the Fed-backed securities markets.
But at the first Congressional Oversight Commission hearing Friday, expert after expert said the lending lifeline is falling far short for companies and workers drowning in a coronavirus-ravaged economy.
“I’m here this morning to provide testimony from the perspective of middle-market borrowers to help answer the question that you all are asking: who the Main Street Lending Program is helping,” said Tom Bohn, CEO of the Association for Corporate Growth, which represents 200,000 midsize companies. “Regrettably, I have no answer to offer you. We can neither borrow from the program nor find someone in our membership who has received a loan through it.”
“The Main Street Lending Program, while enacted to assist businesses like our portfolio companies weather the economic storm brought on by the pandemic, is not responsive to their needs as currently structured,” said Vince Foster, executive chairman of the Main Street Capital Corp.
Continue to article: https://rollcall.com/2020/08/07/congressional-panel-slams-feds-main-street-lending-program/
