Originally published by the Pottstown Mercury.

U.S. Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Fred Upton (R-MI) Monday introduced the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act to expedite forgiveness for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $150,000 or less. This legislation would streamline the process for small business owners to certify compliance with PPP requirements and expedite the loan forgiveness process for about 86% of PPP borrowers.

“In order to successfully rebuild our economy, Congress and the Administration need to be doing everything we can to help our small businesses weather this COVID-19 crisis,” said Houlahan. “In our office, we have worked alongside our small business community to help secure loans, increase access to capital for minority- and women-owned businesses, and improve transparency into the Paycheck Protection Program."

“The Paycheck Protection Program has certainly been a lifeline for many small businesses and employees across southwest Michigan and around the country,” said Upton. “Our office has worked hand-in-hand on the PPP with a number of small businesses and lenders to help protect countless jobs. In Michigan alone, 121,000 loans totaling more than $16 billion have helped keep 1.5 million employees on the payroll. But, as much as we all wanted the COVID-19 crisis over by Easter, that was not the reality, as the country, workers, and our small businesses continue to face a number of challenges. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and the Senate to get this done.”

The Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act would:

• Apply only to recipients of PPP loans of $150,000 or less.

• Require SBA to quickly create a one-page online or paper form for eligible small businesses to certify to their lender that they have met the requirements of the program.

• Ensure that the form includes an optional checklist for the small business owner to indicate whether they have spent 60 percent or more on payroll costs or less than 60 percent due to issues with rehiring (pursuant to the PPP Flexibility Act).

• Require that the form include a way for borrowers to submit demographic information, at their discretion.

• Prohibit Members of Congress, their families, and senior Executive Branch members from benefiting from this “expedited forgiveness” mechanism. Such businesses would remain eligible for forgiveness under the original requirements of the program.

The PPP was implemented as part of the CARES Act, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed by the president at the end of March. The PPP is a loan program designed to provide funding for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll and to help with other operating expenses. According to data from the SBA, the PPP has reached more than 5 million American businesses with an average loan size of just over $100,000.