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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Susan Collins (R-ME), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Braun (R-IN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), John Barrasso (R-WY), James Lankford (R-OK), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Tim Scott (R-SC), Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation to extend the deadline for businesses and nonprofits to apply for loans through the Paycheck Protection Program to May 31, 2021. The legislation would also prohibit the Small Business Administration (SBA) from setting priorities for processing the applications of some entities over others except for priorities reasonably necessary to carry out the set-asides created by Congress in the December 2020 COVID-19 relief bill.
 
“The Paycheck Protection Program serves as a lifeline to millions of small businesses and the millions of individuals and families who rely on them to earn a living,” Rubio said. “PPP is critical to getting employees re-hired and small businesses re-opened. I urge my colleagues to swiftly pass this extension so that small businesses can receive the help they need to stay afloat.”
 
“The PPP has been a lifeline to millions of small businesses across the country, but many still need additional support to make it through to the other side of the pandemic,” Collins said. “Earlier this year, we reopened the program to allow small businesses to apply for a PPP loan for the first time and allow the hardest-hit establishments to receive a second PPP loan.  By extending the PPP deadline, our bill would give our nation’s small employers more time to access this critical relief.”
 
“The Paycheck Protection Program has been wildly popular in North Dakota, giving a significant number of our small businesses the resources they need to get through the pandemic,” Cramer said. “We should not let it shut down right as we are on the verge of a strong recovery. Our bill would give business owners more time to seek assistance through this program and ensure help remains available to all who need it, not just a select few.”
“The Paycheck Protection Program has provided a lifeline to small businesses across Idaho impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Risch said. “It is critical that this program remains available to Main Street businesses as we work to restore jobs and rebuild our strong economy.”
“I visited every county in Indiana last year, and everywhere I went small business owners told me that without PPP loans their businesses would have been forced to close their doors or lay off staff,” Braun said. “I’m proud to join this bill to extend the deadline for businesses and nonprofits to access PPP loans to help small businesses hit hardest by the pandemic make ends meet through this targeted program.”  
 
“PPP was designed to swiftly provide relief for Oklahoma small businesses impacted by COVID-19,” Lankford said. “The Biden Administration made things unnecessarily complicated by narrowing access to PPP loans and delaying the process for other qualified applicants. We should immediately extend PPP to the end of May 2021 to address the economic instability caused by the programmatic delays.”
 
“There is nothing more pro-worker than keeping our West Virginia workers on the payroll, which is exactly what the Paycheck Protection Program does. It has been a lifeline for small businesses, which are truly the backbone of West Virginia where more than 95 percent of our businesses are small businesses,” Capito said. “As the pandemic continues, we are continuing to make changes to the program to help keep employers and employees connected. In addition to an extended deadline, this effort would prohibit the SBA from setting last minute priorities among applicants that may alter their PPP eligibility. I’m proud to join my colleagues today to introduce legislation that will provide small business owners the flexibility they need to utilize these funds in a way that makes the most sense for their business during this time.”  
 
“The success of the Paycheck Protection Program has been rooted in the broadest availability of these loans to small businesses,” Hyde-Smith said. “We believe a straight extension of PPP, without picking and choosing ‘winners,’ is the best way to sustain the success of the program as we work to overcome the pandemic.”
 
Rubio, former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, is the co-author of the historic Paycheck Protection Program and has led the authorization of nearly $1 trillion in small business relief, including over $800 billion for PPP during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 5.2 million businesses received forgivable PPP loans in 2020, which kept tens of millions of Americans on payroll through the worst of the public health restrictions. In Florida alone, more than 430,000 received forgivable PPP loans, saving more than 3 million jobs.