In the midst of the ongoing pandemic, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) said last week that he plans to unveil a bipartisan bill to protect jobs and provide financial relief to small businesses, community banks and credit unions in his home state of Montana and across the country.
“Montana small businesses and our local community banks have been drastically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They need relief to help protect jobs and workers, not unnecessary loans and payments during these hard times,” Sen. Daines said on Nov. 19. “That’s why I’ll be introducing bipartisan legislation to ensure small dollar loans are forgiven.”
The forthcoming bill, which Sen. Daines plans to introduce with U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-ME), would end the requirement that Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Advance grants be subtracted from Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness, action that would ensure small dollar loans created by this requirement are forgiven, according to a statement released by Sen. Daines’ office.
The EIDL Advance program permits businesses to receive a grant of $1,000 per employee, capped at $10,000, but small businesses that also received PPP loans must subtract the EIDL Advance amount from their total forgiveness, leaving small businesses, local community banks and credit unions with smaller loans and a five-year term, according to the statement.
Sen. Daines also sent an Oct. 18 letter to leaders on the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee urging them to address the issue between EIDL loans and the PPP forgiveness program, calling on them to lift “the burden for community banks of servicing thousands of small dollar loans” and clarify the process for impacted small businesses.