PIA National, along with a broad coalition of business groups, has sent a letter to Congressional leadership to urge them to pass legislation that would improve the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness process. 

With Congress in a stalemate on the passage of a larger COVID-19 relief package, PIA National has joined with a large alliance of business groups asking the leaders of the House and Senate to pass this bill as soon as possible, even if it must be passed on its own, rather than as part of a larger package. 

PIA National has spent the past few months advocating for the bipartisan “Paycheck Protection Program Small Business Forgiveness Act,” sponsored by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Fred Upton (R-MI). 

The legislation would forgive PPP loans of less than $150,000 upon the borrower’s completion of a simple, one-page form. PPP loans of $150,000 and under account for roughly 86 percent of all PPP loans. Expediting the loan forgiveness process for such businesses will ease their burden, freeing them to engage in the essential work required to remain solvent.

The letter points out that time is of the essence, and a larger COVID-19 package may be delayed or ultimately stymied altogether. With that backdrop, then, Congress should pass the loan forgiveness bill as a standalone piece of legislation so that it can be signed into law and implemented in a timely way, and small businesses entitled to PPP loan forgiveness can obtain that relief using an easy and streamlined process.