Biden-Harris Administration listens to small business organizations and makes critical fix to PPP

Press Statement
February 22, 2021

Statement of Frank Knapp Jr., president & CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.

Today the Biden-Harris Administration announced needed changes to the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  These changes will help those very small businesses, especially those owned by people of color, that were left out of the first around of the program.

Ten days ago 100 small business organizations sent a letter to the Administration calling for one of the most important changes—a Schedule C fix.  I serve as co-chair on one of those organizations, Small Business for America’s Future.

Many self-employed and microbusinesses were structurally shut out of the first round of PPP loans because loan amounts were linked to using line 31 of IRS Form 1040 which shows “net profit”.  The change will allow using line 7 of the Schedule C which shows “gross income.

Without this critical fix the other major changes announced today would still not have helped the self-employed and microbusinesses that have been shut out of the PPP loans. 

My fellow co-chair of Small Business for America’s Future, Shaundell Newsome, has released a statement summarizing all the changes in the PPP loans announced today:

The changes giving businesses with 20 or fewer employees–the vast majority of small businesses–a window to apply for a PPP loan without competition from larger employers, expanding program eligibility to some owners with criminal records, changing the loan calculation formula for the self-employed with the goal of increasing eligibility, and making the PPP loans forgivable for business owners behind on their federal student loan payments, expands access to our main small business pandemic relief program to a much broader spectrum of business owners. That means a lot more small business owners will have help keeping their businesses afloat and retaining their employees.

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Contact:
Frank Knapp
803-600-6874 cell

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