WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a Senate Banking Committee member, delivered remarks on the Senate floor today urging his colleagues to support including the entirety of the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act in the Phase Four COVID-19 relief package entitled the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability, and Schools (HEALS) Act.

“Our bill streamlines the forgiveness process for small businesses and eliminates the need for more bureaucracy,” said Senator Cramer. “It will give our small businesses the peace of mind they need as they fight for their livelihoods during this pandemic.”

Senator Cramer introduced the Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act with Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) in June. It includes streamlined forgiveness for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $150,000 or less if the borrower submits a simple, one-page attestation form to the lender. It also ensures the lender will be held harmless from any enforcement action if the borrower’s attestation form contains falsehoods.

Loans of this size account for 85 percent of PPP loans, though they only represent 25 percent of the funds spent on this program. While eliminating the need for more bureaucracy, this legislation could save small businesses $8.4 billion and lenders $2 billion in compliance costs. The bill has the support of 25 senators and over 200 business organizations and associations.

Learn more here.

Click Here to Watch