Federal Assistance to Small Businesses in Maryland

August 17, 2023

Jack Fiechtner,

BERLIN, Md. – It’s often said that small business is the backbone of America and the ones we have in our own backyard are hoping to receive more federal assistance following the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Berlin – many of those businesses survived the pandemic – but some need some extra help to thrive.

“There are areas that we need to help small businesses. Our committee working in a bipartisan way to bring out legislation that will deal with these challenges.”

Maryland’s U.S. Senator Ben Cardin touring downtown Berlin today.

He says small businesses do not have the deep pockets that large companies have.

Local business owners and government leaders have learned to adapt to business models by local and state advisors like the Maryland Small Business Development Center to provide assistance to small businesses that need it.

“We want to help and they have challenges with getting capital,” U.S. Senator Cardin said. “We need to make it easier for small businesses to have access to capital.”

Senator Cardin says that bigger banks have a lower chance of approving smaller businesses because of the higher risk of returning on their investment.

“Where larger banks may not be interested we have to deal with that challenge.”

Now on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senator Cardin says new approaches need to be made to meet these small businesses where they are.

“We saw during COVID the tools that were available,” U.S. Senator Cardin said. “Those tools are now being fazed out, So now we have to look at new avenues for capital for getting loans, so that smaller small businesses are not hampered because of the size of their loans.”

Many small businesses in Berlin do not have the levels of staff that big corporations have to be able to get approved for federal grants.

“They do not have large staff to deal with all the paperwork that we require,” U.S. Senator Cardin said. “We will provide some help in that regard and they have the challenges to finding trained workers, so we have work to do in Washington.”