Newsroom

September 25, 2020

Thaler urges simplified PPP forgiveness ahead of House Small Biz hearing

CapitolAhead of today's House Small Business subcommittee hearing to review the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) paycheck protection program (PPP) loan forgiveness process, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler called on the subcommittee to consider the concerns of credit unions and their members faced with a complex process.

In the letter, Thaler voiced the association’s continued support of a simplified loan forgiveness process, such as what is proposed in H.R. 7777, the Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act. The proposed bill provides for an automatic forgiveness process for covered PPP loans of less than $150,000. NAFCU has actively sought this automatic forgiveness of small dollar PPP loans for the benefit of both small businesses and credit unions that are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and may have strained financial and human resources.

The hearing is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern and will be available via livestream. Both lenders and borrowers of the program are set to testify before the subcommittee.

Yesterday, NAFCU monitored a House Small Business subcommittee hearing reviewing the SBA’s implementation of the PPP. William Manger, SBA's chief of staff and associate administrator of the office of capital access, noted the SBA is focused on weighing their responsibility to the taxpayer with the integrity of the program in regard to forgiveness. In response to questions by members of the subcommittee as to whether he would support a threshold or criteria for automated forgiveness, Manger declined to comment, indicating it is for Congress to determine.

Manger agreed that the SBA may need to focus on education to ensure leaders and borrowers understand the forgiveness process and noted that the SBA has received over 96,000 applications, which they are still reviewing. Also of note, several members of the subcommittee called for additional rounds of PPP funding.

The association will monitor the hearing today and continue to update members on any new information regarding the program and loan forgiveness. For more on the PPP, access NAFCU’s regularly updated FAQs.