Louisiana COVID Business Grants Expiring

• Author: Bryan Miller
• Posted: 2024-09-21

Louisiana was one of the first states in America to funnel the federal CARES Act money into state-based grants for struggling businesses and citizens, and they were also one of the fairest states in terms of ensuring businesses got the money they so desperately needed. With the two subsequent federal bills after the initial CARES under former President Trump, Louisiana made sure to fill their coffers back up when they received the money. A lot of states did not handle the money well at all, and only around 10% of businesses that applied got any money in some states, and most of those businesses were female or minority-owned, as states decided that identity politics took precedence over suffering. Though as of today, September 17, the deadline for Louisiana's COVID business relief grants is here, and many businesses were scrambling to apply.

These grants have been available for just under a year, so what we're seeing is a whole lot of businesses re-applying for grants where they didn't qualify at first. After another few months of hardship, many of these businesses are just barely clinging on, if they didn't outright fail, and now these grants would be very much welcomed relief. These grants are typically handed out as one-time lump payments from $10,000 to $25,000, and nonprofits can also apply. It would appear, in fact, that Louisiana is a lot quicker to help their nonprofits than their restaurants, as a larger percentage of the state's charities received grant funding whereas most restaurants were hit or miss.

This is pretty much the standard all around America. A national average of around 30% of restaurants that applied for grant money wound up getting it. The odd thing here, however, is that the federal government gave states so much money that watch-dog organizations claim that the money was enough for around 80% of all of America's restaurants to get at least $25,000. After all, the government has printed trillions upon trillions of dollars for this pandemic, so to think there's a business out there that cannot even get its hands on $10,000 of that is a little confusing. Then again, cynical people might want to claim outright theft and corruption. All we know is that a lot of this money is unaccounted for. We will not speculate beyond that point. It really is a shame that so many businesses were forced to close by their own government and never received help.

Louisiana did a little better at helping out. Around 40% of their restaurants got grants if they applied, though most were for a lower amount. It would seem as if only the aforementioned female and minority-owned businesses were treated with the full amount of $25,000. According to a lot of academics in America involved in the field of social justice, those were the businesses that needed a bigger boost, if only because those are the businesses that deserved to survive the COVID fallout and still exist on the other side of it. They're happy that certain businesses made it and others did not, and they claim it's a victory for progress that POC-led businesses were propped up.

The crux of the story is that Louisiana is pulling the plug because they're basically out of funding. They will be another state where literally billions of dollars are entirely unaccounted for, but they did better than many other states at ensuring the money got out.

More and More Spending

While the COVID business relief grants are shutting down in Louisiana, and are shut down in most other states, the fact is that we may see another round of grants in the next few months. The Biden administration is very busy with over a million immigrants pouring in over the southern border, and tens of thousands of Afghani refugees they're trying to relocate. Though as soon as they can get their hands around those situations, the talk is that Biden will urge Congress is pass another huge trillion-dollar-plus spending bill. Instead of going for more stimulus checks, inside sources claim that President Joe Biden just wants to give another round of funding to the states, on top of the infrastructure bill, so that they might spend it how they wish.

What's happening now is a far cry from Biden's promises of job creation, student loan forgiveness, and falling inflation rates. We're seeing a lot from Team Biden, but the things he promised are not currently on the menu. Instead, it's a spate of immigration, a lot of inflation, and more plans for more spending. Though, at the least, this will likely mean new grant programs for states.