Fact check: Republican congresswoman didn't take credit for the relief bill she voted against
By Daniel Dale
Updated 7:01 PM ET, Mon March 15, 2021
Facts First: Salazar did not take credit for any part of the American Rescue Plan. Rather, the loan policy she was applauding was adopted by the Small Business Administration separately from the American Rescue Plan. Salazar and a Democratic colleague, Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas, had proposed a very similar loan policy in a bill they put forward in early March. This Salazar-Davids bill is what Salazar was referring to when she tweeted that the Biden administration had implemented "my bipartisan COVID relief bill."
A White House official, National Economic Council Deputy Director Bharat Ramamurti, tweeted on Sunday to try to correct the inaccurate criticism of Salazar.
"I've seen some confusion on this. On Friday -- separate from the American Rescue bill -- SBA announced it was letting 3M+ businesses defer EIDL loan payments for an extra year. We're glad to see bipartisan support for this and other changes we've made to help small businesses," Ramamurti said.
The Small Business Administration acted "under its own authority," in consultation with the Biden-Harris team, to make the policy change -- not under the American Rescue Plan, a Small Business Administration spokesperson said Monday on condition of anonymity.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/15/politics/fact-check-maria-salazar-american-rescue-plan-voted-against/index.html