In order to provide a lifeline to small businesses struggling in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Signed in late March as part of the sweeping CARES Act, Congress has so far authorized more than $650 billion for the program, which is being implemented by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Unfortunately, the SBA has crafted several “interim final rules” that unfairly deny loans to countless entrepreneurs. 

In a comment letter submitted to the Administration earlier this month, the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago blasted the SBA's “exclusionary provisions,” which threaten to “arbitrarily wipe out all that these entrepreneurs have built.” Worse, the PPP rules go far beyond what Congress actually authorized and “run contrary to the intent and text of the CARES Act.” 

[...]

“Red tape created by the Small Business Administration is making it impossible for many worthy businesses to get access to the emergency loans created by Congress,” said IJ Clinic Associate Director Amy Hermalik. “These regulatory hurdles, not written in the law, fall especially hard on black and Latino and low-income business owners. There are worthy businesses that would be excluded if the SBA doesn’t rethink its restrictions.”

Read more at Forbes