U.S. Congresswoman Cindy Axne

The Congresswoman for Iowa’s Third District is seeking information on the lack of forgiveness from the U.S. Department of Treasury and Small Business Administration on Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness applications.

Representative Cindy Axne wrote a letter to the two entities to address the nearly 100,000 applications for loan forgiveness from the program that was designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. As of August 8th over 13,000 PPP loans have been approved in the Third Congressional District, totaling over $1.4 billion and supporting at least 120,000 jobs across central and southwest Iowa.

A Government Accountability Office report stated that the SBA hadn’t yet formalized their loan forgiveness review process. Axne tells Raccoon Valley Radio that while she appreciates the desire to ensure accurate information is provided, it is far too long for borrowers and lenders, “We cannot leave these businesses in limbo, they’re already suffering as it is, we’ve got to make sure that they understand when they’re going to have this loan forgiven, and while I’m appreciative of course that we want to provide accurate information this is way to long for borrowers and lenders to be sitting waiting for updated information because it really does leave our Iowans in a tough position.”

The letter listed several questions for the SBA to answer, with a response requested no later than this Thursday.