Warren Joins Senate Democrats in Calling for an Improved Process for Applying for PPP Loan Forgiveness
Senate Democrats to Treasury Sec. Mnuchin SBA Admin. Carranza: PPP Forgiveness Program Cumbersome, Costly, and Hurts the Smallest Businesses — Streamline and Simplify Process Now
Washington, DC — United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) led all 47 Senate Democrats in sending a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza calling for urgently needed improvements to streamline and simplify the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness application process to ensure the smallest and most underserved businesses are able to fully take advantage of the program.
“As the program enters its next phase and borrowers begin to seek forgiveness of their loans, there is an immediate need for significant improvements to the forgiveness application process, which is tremendously cumbersome and overly complex, especially for very small businesses, sole proprietors, and underserved borrowers,” said the senators. “We want to encourage the Small Business Administration and the Department of Treasury to significantly streamline and simplify the forgiveness process to ensure the smallest and most underserved businesses are able to fully take advantage of the program without having to make inordinate investments of time or limited resources.”
The senators added, “We request that the Administration consider streamlining the forgiveness application, especially for smaller loans, and provide adequate resources to ensure a smooth and reliable process that small businesses and nonprofits can have faith in. We also request that before the Administration releases a final, updated form that you engage directly with Congress for input to ensure the form upholds Congressional intent within the CARES Act and follows through on the requests within this letter.”
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, Senator Warren has pressed the Trump administration to deliver the robust set of resources needed to address this emergency and worked to ensure Massachusetts can get the help it needs -- including the Commonwealth's small businesses. On March 26th, Senator Warren joined Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh on a conference call with Boston small business owners to share details of the relief for small businesses in the latest legislative package. She held a similar call with small businesses across the Commonwealth the same day. Senators Warren and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) shared information and resources for small businesses impacted by coronavirus and called for clear guidance to ensure all small businesses have equal and expedient access to funding. Senator Warren also called on Congress to do more to help small businesses survive this crisis. She also joined colleagues to urge the Trump Administration to deliver critical COVID-19 relief to minority and underserved businesses. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) wrote to the SBA and Treasury Department Inspector Generals (IG) requesting a broad investigation into the implementation of the PPP. Senators Warren, Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) urged SBA and Treasury to ensure child care small businesses have access to PPP benefits.
###
Next Article Previous Article
