Continuing Appropriations Act, 20201 and Other Extensions Act--

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAMER. Mr. President, 6 months ago, our Nation's small businesses faced an existential crisis and unprecedented threat. Like the rest of us, they didn't truly know what this virus was, how hard it would hit us, how long it would last, or what the future would hold. But they did know that their businesses were preparing to close, that employees were being told to stay home, and they needed help, which is why I and every other colleague in this Chamber passed the CARES Act and created the Paycheck Protection Program.

We gave money to the administration, which, in turn, gave that money to lenders, and those lenders, in turn, loaned that money to small businesses to use for employee retention. If they followed the rules, they were told they wouldn't have to return the money. That was the commitment we made to them while we strongly encouraged them--I emphasize ``strongly encouraged them''--to use the program, and it worked.

We had nearly 5 million PPP loans worth $571 billion out the door and into the hands of our businesses that put it into the hands of their employees, which kept tens of millions of people, by some counts, on the payrolls instead of on the unemployment rolls.

History will be the judge of the long-term success of the program, for sure, but it is unquestionable that in the short term, this program succeeded. It is time for us now to uphold our commitment.

America's lenders and borrowers are ready to take that next step, proving that they have complied with the rules so they can receive forgiveness for these loans.

Sadly for them, but not surprising to me, the forgiveness process designed by the agency is burdensome, complex, and already in need of reform. That is not just my opinion; that is the opinion of the Government Accountability Office. They said: ``Applying for loan forgiveness is more time consuming than applying for the PPP loan itself and requires more lender review.''

You see the trap that we have laid for borrowers and lenders. We, the Federal Government, spent weeks--months--telling our hurting, fragile small businesses: Take this money. Take this money. Just use it correctly, and it will be forgiven.

Well, here we are. Our businesses are still struggling, still facing uncertainty, and the agency-prescribed solution appears to be creating a system more intense than any they have experienced during this pandemic just so they can prove to the right people that they didn't use their money incorrectly. That is a problem.

We have known it was going to be a problem for a long time. That is why we have been working for months on bipartisan solutions to the problems in this bipartisan program. Over the summer, Senator Menendez and I brought together a bipartisan coalition and introduced the Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act. Here is what it does. Of those 5 million PPP recipients, 4.2 million had loans of $150,000 or less. Remember, they could borrow up to $10 million. They account for around $132 billion of the PPP funds that we have spent. Think about that: 4.2 million of the 5 million--so 86 percent of the borrowers--account for $132 billion of the $571 billion that we have spent. That is only 27 percent. So what we did was separate the 86 percent of the loans, which account for 27 percent of the money, and said that if borrowers--small businesses--complete a simple, one-page forgiveness document to the lender--our banks, our credit unions--the loan will be forgiven. It is that simple.

It eliminates the anxiety being felt by our businesses. It puts accountability on the borrowers and frees up enforcement efforts to focus on the 14 percent of the PPP recipients who took 73 percent of the funds. If this seems to be obvious common sense, it is because it is.

Congress isn't known for working well together; I know that. But, here, a Republican from North Dakota has teamed up with a Democrat from New Jersey to find a plan that works for Members from Arizona to Alabama, from North Carolina to Nebraska. Nearly one-third of the Senate--with Members from both parties--has signed onto our bill.

What has happened since? The Presiding Officer knows as well as anybody that our friends blocked us from considering a new relief package just a couple of weeks ago. Many of the provisions of our bipartisan bill were in that package. Many bipartisan plans from all Senators were in it, but politics prevailed, and we came up short. That happens around here.

Just because our total package was blocked doesn't mean our small businesses and lenders who gave them PPP funds don't still need relief. That is what we have heard from our communities and hundreds of association leaders from all across the country. On their behalf--on behalf of the small businesses that need help and the lenders we encouraged to help them--I am going to ask for unanimous consent to pass S. 4117.

4117 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the Johnson amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

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Mr. CRAMER. Mr. President, I appreciate Senator Cardin's commitment to work together. We are all committed to that as well.

I do struggle a little bit when the reasons to oppose something are all of the things that aren't in it. Sure, there is not support for State or local governments. There is not a new EIDL Program or a reformed PPP program or a microloan program or tax credits. Of course, tax credits are under a whole different jurisdiction. There is not nuclear modernization, and there is not unemployment insurance. There are lots of things that aren't in it. Yet politics is the art of the possible, and around here, big packages become very difficult, and politics gets in the way.

I was hoping we could find an increment to help small businesses in a significant way that, frankly, wouldn't cost the government anything but, in fact, might save it some money in its just not hiring another large bureaucracy.

I look forward to working with the Senator. I appreciate his work on the CARES Act and the PPP and his work with Chairman Rubio and Susan Collins in creating this program. I am just disappointed that we couldn't get it across the finish line today, but I hope we can soon.

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