Columbus, OH – On Thursday, Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, issued a statement praising United States Senator Rob Portman of Ohio for his leadership in introducing legislation that will fix the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program so that people who have a criminal record but have since turned their lives around and started small businesses can qualify.

“Always—but especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—we should be coming together as a nation to strongly encourage employment, not discourage it. Senator Portman’s commonsense proposed fix to the Paycheck Protection Program does just that by supporting employment for some of the most vulnerable in society—those who have paid their debt to society, turned their lives around, and aren’t just working, but are actually creating jobs for other Americans. Giving these business owners a second chance is indisputably the right thing to do.”

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