Accountable.US Letter Asks Small Business Administration to Release Information Surrounding Forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Loans

WASHINGTON, D.C. Following reports this week that the Small Business Administration (SBA) has, after months of uncertainty, started forgiving loans distributed through Trump’s poorly designed, poorly implemented Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), government watchdog Accountable.US sent a letter to SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza today calling on the agency to increase transparency in the loan forgiveness process.

With billions of taxpayer dollars on the table in the form of potentially forgivable loans, the Small Business Administration owes it to small business owners and American taxpayers to make this next step in the Paycheck Protection Program more clear, transparent, and equitable than those preceding it."

Accountable.US President Kyle Herrig.  

Small businesses and banks alike have complained about the lack of clarity surrounding PPP loan forgiveness in the months since the program was implemented, citing confusing and ever-changing guidelines and a lack of clear timing as serious issues. And while the SBA has started approving companies’ applications to have their PPP loans turned into grants, a number of questions still remain, including how the agency is determining eligibility for loan forgiveness, which loans it has forgiven already — and how much of each one — and how long businesses should expect to wait to learn whether the SBA has approved their loans for forgiveness.

Trump’s Paycheck Protection Program was rife with abuse, misuse, and fraud from the start. With 60 individuals already charged with PPP-related fraud by the Department of Justice and “hundreds more” under investigation, it’s obvious there is much more clarity necessary surrounding the program and its recipients to ensure that funds reached businesses that actually needed relief — not just the wealthy and well-connected companies trying to cash in.  

The watchdog’s full letter is available here

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