WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott wrote a letter to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza requesting information on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan returns, and urging the SBA to make this information available to the public.

Read the Senator’s letter HERE or below.

September 25, 2020

The Honorable Jovita Carranza

Administrator

U.S. Small Business Administration

409 Third Street SW

Washington, D.C. 20416

Dear Administrator Carranza:

Thank you for your continued support of small businesses across Florida and the country. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has helped so many across the nation stay afloat during this unimaginable time. As you know, Congress appropriated $659 billion for the PPP, helping thousands of small businesses in the United States retain their workers and keep their doors open. We must continue to ensure there is proper oversight and transparency in how these taxpayer funds have been used and spent.

I appreciate your efforts to provide additional transparency to American taxpayers about who received PPP loans earlier this year. It was an important step, but more must be done to increase transparency in the program. It has been reported that there are a number of borrowers that have returned funds from their PPP loan, either because they no longer needed it, or because they were deemed ineligible to receive the loan. While the Small Business Administration (SBA) receives information about returned loans from lenders, it has come to my attention that the SBA has not yet released any of this information to the public.

Therefore, I write to request the following information:

1. How many small business borrowers have returned PPP loans?
2. How much taxpayer money has been returned to date?
3. Does the SBA have a plan to release this information to the public, including the name of the borrower, the date of the return, and the amount of money returned? If not, I would respectfully request the SBA to make this information publicly available by October 15, 2020.
4. What has the SBA done with the returned monies? Were they used to replenish funds available in the program or were they redirected somewhere else? If they were redirected, I request a complete accounting to where that money went and for what purpose, given that Congress appropriated those funds solely for the PPP program.

We owe it to the American people to be as transparent as possible about how their money is being spent, and we must do everything in our power to ensure there is accountability and oversight. I appreciate your immediate consideration and response to these questions because Americans deserve to know where their hard-earned tax dollars are going.

Sincerely,

Rick Scott

United States Senator

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