Small Business Owner on Biden’s Changes to PPP Loans: ‘It Feels Like a Kick in the Gut’

Lorraine Lyman, a 45-year-old small business owner, said she felt left behind by President Joe Biden’s recent changes to the way loans are calculated through the Paycheck Protection Program.

“‘These changes that they’ve done are supposed to be to help someone like me, and they’re not,’ said Lorraine Lyman, who owns Savvy Success Unlimited, an Oakland, Calif., career coaching and college admissions consulting firm.” – The Wall Street Journal

In late February, the Biden administration announced sole proprietors, independent contractors and the self-employed can use gross income rather than net profit when determining the size of their forgivable loan — a change that would’ve given Lyman $20,833 versus the nearly $7,800 she received had she filed after the adjustment was made.

“Ms. Lyman, who is Black, said she was particularly disappointed because the Biden administration has said the changes were meant to help minority-owned small businesses, which tend to have few or no employees. ‘It feels like a kick in the gut,’ she said.” – The Wall Street Journal

Lyman’s not the only business owner who felt Biden’s changes were too little too late. A jewelry designer whose sales dropped 90 percent because of the pandemic said she was also discouraged about the money she missed out on had the president acted sooner.

“It was bittersweet,” said Ms. Mitchell, “when I saw how much more it could have been if I had waited a few days to apply.” – The Wall Street Journal

Bottom line: While President Biden was focused on implementing his job-killing energy agenda and open border policies, small businesses and American workers were left behind.