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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a Senate Budget Committee and Senate Banking Committee member, led a group of senators in delivering remarks on the Senate floor today urging Congress to pass the Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act, which streamlines the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness process for small businesses. Senator Cramer requested unanimous consent to pass this legislation, but that effort was blocked by Senate Democrats.
“Six months ago, the federal government told small businesses to take Paycheck Protection Program loans to keep their workers employed, and if they followed the rules, the loans would be forgiven,” said Senator Cramer. “Now it is time for the federal government to fulfill that commitment, but the current forgiveness process is overly complex and burdensome. Our Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act would fix that, and I hope to see Democrats come to the table and help us provide this relief to our nation’s small businesses.”
The Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act is bipartisan legislation Senator Cramer introduced this summer with Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ). It 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. As Senator Cramer noted in his speech, the bill would streamline forgiveness for 86 percent of PPP recipients who only account for 27 percent of PPP funds. It is supported by 31 senators and over 200 businesses and associations. Today’s floor event follows Senator Cramer’s work to include this legislation in potential COVID-19 relief packages. Learn more here.
Senator Cramer was joined on the Senate floor in expressing support for the bill by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mike Rounds (R-SD). It was blocked by Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) who objected to the bill because it did not contain unrelated items.
“I struggle when the reasons to oppose something are all of the things that aren’t in it,” responded Senator Cramer. “I’m disappointed we could not get this over the finish line today, but I am looking forward to working with Senator Cardin and the rest of my colleagues on getting something done for our small businesses.”
