Ppp Extension Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, without order, there can be no justice. We all know that. Without order, there can be no justice.

This past year, we have seen felony rioting throughout the United States. It doesn't matter whether that felony rioting happened here at the Capitol. It doesn't matter whether it happened in Portland or Chicago or Atlanta or at any of our other wonderful communities throughout the United States. It is wrong, and we have all condemned it. It should be punished, and it certainly shouldn't be rewarded.

My amendment is very simple. It says that if you were one of those rioters and you have received due process, you have been convicted by a court of law of competent jurisdiction, and you have been adjudged to have committed a felony with respect to a riot or civil disorder in the past 2 years, then you cannot participate in the PPP program. We already have that law at the SBA for disaster loans. This would extend it to the PPP program.

What you allow is what will continue. What you allow is what will continue, and that is why I would respectfully ask consideration for my amendment.

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Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President.

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Mr. KENNEDY. How much time do I have left?
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Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, this is the third time I have brought this amendment--the third time.

Now, you either approve of the rioting that happened this summer and at the Capitol or you don't. The riots this summer killed 47 people. There was well over $1 billion worth of damage.

No. 2, I can't help it if Speaker Pelosi has decided to go home, which prevents us from offering amendments to make this bill better. We all support extension of the PPP program, but this is not right, and it would be a lot more intellectually honest if my colleague, who opposed my amendment, said: Look, we just don't think that if you rioted you should be punished with respect to the PPP program, because that is what a ``no'' vote is saying.

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Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President.

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Mr. KENNEDY. I would like to ask my colleague for 30 more seconds.

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Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I just wanted to read the language to you. It says that you are prohibited from getting a PPP loan if you have been convicted of a felony in relation to a riot or a civil disorder in the past 2 years. You either support violence or you don't.

Madam President, I would like to ask that my amendment, Kennedy amendment No. 1401, be called up.
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