On Tuesday, the House was called back from August recess to vote on a series of rules to set up the September legislative calendar. The House voted on  H. Res. 601: "Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4) to amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to revise the criteria for determining which States and political subdivisions are subject to section 4 of the Act, and for other purposes; providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 3684) to authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes; and providing for the adoption of the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 14) setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2022 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2023 through 2031; and for other purposes.” This rule was adopted on a 220 - 212 vote. 

NECA’s Look Ahead: The rules contained a provision to “deem the budget as passed,” which sets up the budget resolution for further Congressional action. Also the resolution stated that the infrastructure bill (Senate amendment to (H.R. 3684) to authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes) would be considered in the House no later than Sept. 28, 2021. NECA will continue to monitor the budget and the infrastructure bill over the coming weeks and provide regular updates.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched a Paycheck Protection Program Direct Forgiveness Portal for loans of $150,000 or less. This portal streamlines forgiveness applications to help borrowers attain forgiveness fast. So far, 600 banks have opted into direct forgiveness through the SBA, enabling 2.17 million borrowers to apply though the portal. Register and apply for PPP forgiveness here through the SBA. Below is the PPP direct forgiveness portal user guide that can walk you through the registration and application process.