As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Congress created the "Paycheck Protection Program" (PPP) to provide loans to help small businesses stay afloat and retain employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This wildly popular program delivered over $500 billion to struggling businesses who used it to save jobs and keep themselves afloat. We also provided a path for the loans to be forgiven if they were used properly. However, while PPP was a great success, it now gives small businesses and lenders a new source of anxiety.
Congress can and should play its part in alleviating their concerns and allow them to focus on restarting the American economy. In June, my colleagues and I introduced the "Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act," bipartisan legislation to streamline the forgiveness process for small businesses which received PPP loans.
We can avoid the burdensome cost of superfluous bureaucracy required to arrive at the forgone conclusion of loan forgiveness by implementing a few commonsense changes. Our bill would give small businesses peace of mind by eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic requirements and simplifying the process for forgiving smaller loans.
The Act offers forgiveness for PPP loans of $150,000 or less if the borrower submits a simple, legally-binding, one-page attestation form to the lender.
This threshold would account for 86% of total PPP recipients, but less than 27% of PPP loan dollars.
Here's a break down by each state and territory:
