Jim Hagedorn: “The CARES Act allowed farmers and ranchers to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program by utilizing only net income in…”

“The CARES Act allowed farmers and ranchers to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program by utilizing only net income in their loan calculations. This has prevented many agricultural partnerships from receiving the maximum loan amount possible. My bipartisan bill that I have introduced today, the PPP Flexibility for Farmers and Ranchers Act, allows the use of gross income to calculate the loan and includes a retroactive provision to enable farm partnerships that initially used net income to recalculate unforgiven PPP loans. Ag producers throughout the Nation have suffered greatly from historic drops in demand during the pandemic. As we push to reopen our economy, we must ensure that our farmers and ranchers have access to the resources needed to maintain operations through the end of the pandemic. I am grateful to my colleagues and an array of national agricultural groups who join me in this commonsense effort to boost our farmers, ranchers, and agricultural economy. I encourage Members to cosponsor my bill. ____________________”