{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcadams.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=354", "McAdams fights for less red tape around PPP", "2020-06-09", "2020", "2020-06", "Democrat", "House", "UT", "Ben McAdams", "M001209", "mcadams.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Sandy, Utah Congressman Ben McAdams, Utah Small Business Development Center Director Michael Finnerty and a local small business owner discussed help for small businesses as they apply for loan forgiveness for money received through the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program. Congress provided nearly $660 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in March and April. The loans are to help small businesses stay afloat and keep employees on the payroll and are forgivable, under certain conditions.\r\nAfter hearing from numerous lending institutions and small business owners, McAdams supported the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, which was signed into law by President Trump last week. It provides critical reforms to the original PPP. It wasendorsed by a coalition of 55 organizationsand will create more flexibility for small businesses by:\r\n \r\n    Extending the expense forgiveness period from eight weeks to twenty-four weeks\r\n    Reducing the 75 percent payroll ratio requirement\r\n    Eliminating 2-year loan repayment restrictions for future borrowers\r\n    Allowing payroll tax deferment for PPP recipients\r\n    Extending the June 30 rehiring deadline\r\n \r\nThis new law provides much-needed flexibility to businesses who needed to spend PPP loan proceeds but could not open in order to do so, said McAdams. It's a start, but I'm calling for a drastically simplified loan forgiveness application to streamline the red tape facing small business owners. I'll continue to push that with the Treasury Department and SBA.\r\nMcAdams sent a bipartisan letter to six U.S. Senate leaders last week, describing suggested changes to the loan forgiveness application that would ease the burden on both borrowers and lenders of small PPP loans under $350,000. He said he'll continue to press for that with SBA.\r\nThe COVID-19 outbreak has wreaked financial havoc throughout the state of Utah, leaving many small-business owners struggling in its wake. The Utah Small Business Development Center program has been there from the beginning of the economic shutdown to help small businesses gain access to cash, retain employees, reevaluate business models, and begin the recovery process, said Utah Small Business Development Center State Director Michael Finnerty.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcadams.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=354"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8638699073344469, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}