Warren Buffett presses Congress to provide more aid for small businesses: 'It's an economic war'

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett called on Congress to extend a rescue program for the nation's pandemic-stricken small businesses, likening the shutdown of businesses across the country to an "economic war."

“I think the country owes it to the millions of small business people," Buffett said during an interview on CNBC. "Just renew the [Paycheck Protection Program] and get us to the end of the tunnel."

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Congress established the $670 billion rescue fund earlier this year with the passage of the CARES Act at the end of March. Over the course of roughly four months, the program distributed about $525 billion in forgivable loans to 5.2 million companies, saving an estimated 50 million jobs, according to the Small Business Administration.

The program closed to new applicants at the end of July, although there's still roughly $38 billion remaining in the fund. Lawmakers have been trying to negotiate another round of emergency aid for months, to no avail.

A $748 billion bipartisan relief proposal that's garnered support from rank-and-file lawmakers would reopen the program and allocate about $300 billion in funding to it, although it's unclear whether it will secure enough votes to pass.

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"It would be so foolish to not follow through on this and enable those people to get back to where they could do the kind of business they were doing before," Buffett said. "It's an economic war."

The Oracle of Omaha compared the shutdown of bars, restaurants, gyms, retailers, salons and other businesses to World War II, when the U.S. refocused its factory production on items considered essential for the war, such as weapons and military equipment. He argued the federal government "owes it" to people to provide them with economic relief.

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"We went into World War II, a lot of industries were shut down, and everything went over to defense production," Buffett said. "Well, we've shut down a lot of people in this particular induced recession and others are prospering. I think the country owes it to the really millions of small business people."