Click here to learn how you can take action on the credits clause
- First and foremost, the PPP program was an extraordinary response to a national emergency that was created to save jobs. It doesnt fit in the FAR, and the decision to apply it to PPP loans without consulting Congress or giving stakeholders the chance to comment is flawed;
- Some US Senators view this as double-dipping. Its also unfair to apply a double-dipping standard to one industry while other businesses working on the very same infrastructure projects such as construction contractors and other firms are allowed to keep their loans;
- The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) asked for modifications to the amendment to narrow the waiver of FAR credits clause to situations where the PPP loan was used to save jobs, while not waiving the clause for other PPP-allowable expenses like rent and utilities. This is a fair compromise that ACEC supports and ensures that the waiver only applies to the most important part of PPP, which was to keep people employed;
- Finally, the federal government cannot guarantee fair treatment for engineering firms, which run the very real risk of losing more than what they took in PPP loans if this policy is allowed to proceed. (more…)