National ACE Signs Joint Resolution to Extend PPP Applications

March 12, 2021 [Washington, DC]

Over the last several months, the Coronavirus pandemic and its economic shockwaves have imposed severe and extensive damage on Main Street America, especially firms owned by business owners from marginalized communities. While early data has illustrated the disproportionately dismal circumstances gripping these small businesses, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are ongoing. This continuing component increases the improbability and uncertainty surrounding when small business owners can resume pre-pandemic operations, causing constant lag and subsequent revenue shocks. The Biden Administration’s most recent actions to amend the PPP loan initiative to ensure inclusive and intentional support for historically vulnerable entrepreneurs and microbusinesses are admirable. They must, however, be given the opportunity to succeed. That is why, as advocates for underserved entrepreneurs, we urge immediate consideration of this critical issue.

Congress should extend the PPP’s sunset application period from March 31, 2021, until the program’s authorized appropriations are exhausted, which will benefit historically underserved groups, including sole-proprietorships, firms with fewer than 20 employees, and independent contractors. The new community navigator program and the $7.25 billion in supplemental PPP funding authorized in the recently passed H.R. 1319 the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 underscores the importance of extending the cornerstone program’s operational period.

Read the full resolution here.