# The ANGLE Act: Help for Border Businesses Hit Hard by COVID-19

This bill creates a special loan program for small recreational businesses located near the U.S.-Canadian border that were devastated when the border closed during the pandemic. The law specifically targets businesses in remote areas that can only be reached by driving through Canada—think of places like certain parts of northern Minnesota or similar border regions where Canadian access is essential for getting customers and supplies.

To qualify for these forgivable loans, a business needs to show it lost more than half its revenue between March and December 2020 compared to the same period the year before. The business also has to prove that the border closure directly hurt its ability to operate—meaning it relied on American customers coming through Canada or had other operations dependent on cross-border access. The maximum loan amount is 75 percent of what the business earned in 2019, which gives owners a sense of how much they can borrow based on their pre-pandemic income.

Here's the key part: these loans are forgivable, meaning the business doesn't have to pay them back. Within one year of the law passing, the Small Business Administration would forgive the entire loan amount, minus any money the business already received from other pandemic relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program. This prevents businesses from getting double-paid for the same losses. Essentially, this bill is designed to fill a gap for border-dependent recreational businesses that may have fallen through the cracks of earlier pandemic relief efforts.

ANGLE Act

Assistance Needed for Great Losses Experienced in Isolated Northern Lakes Economic Territory Act or the ANGLE Act This bill requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish a program to make forgivable loans to certain remote recreational businesses that are impacted by border closures due to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019). Eligible remote recreational businesses must (1) have experienced a loss in revenue that is greater than 50% between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, as compared with the same period in the previous year; and (2) show that the closure of the U.S.-Canada border restricted the ability of American customers to access the location of such businesses. The maximum loan amount shall be equal to 75% of the business's FY2019 revenue, and the SBA shall forgive 100% of the value of such loan, less the amount the borrower received from (1) any other loan forgiveness program, or (2) any emergency advance under the economic impact disaster loan program.