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PPP changes included in current COVID relief package

Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin says proposed changes to make the Paycheck Protection Program more accessible for farmers are part of President Biden’s American Rescue package. She tells Brownfield, “It is being worked on in the House of Representatives. We think that they’re going to work probably partway through this weekend and that we’ll get the bill (in the Senate) early next week so we are making steady and expedient progress on it.”

Baldwin says the PPP was created last spring for the coronavirus emergency, but it wasn’t working for most farmers. “A lot of our small family farms don’t have payroll. It’s the members of the family who work on the farm, and also because of tough prior years in dairy in particular, they had negative profits. They had net negative revenue.”

The Wisconsin Democrat says she worked with Senator John Thune (R-SD) to allow farmers to submit total revenues instead of net revenues and to make sure the farmers that benefited from last year’s pandemic relief can still easily apply for the next round of the PPP forgivable loan program.

Baldwin says the coronavirus relief legislation now moving through Congress will also continue several efforts made in previous aid packages. “Food insecurity that has been created by this pandemic, food supply chain issues that were exacerbated by the pandemic, all of those need to continue to get our attention.”

Baldwin says Congress wants to help America get the pandemic in the rear-view mirror as quickly as possible.