A major part of the coronavirus recovery package passed by Congress was the Paycheck Protection Program, commonly called PPP. This bipartisan program has been extremely helpful to small businesses across the country.

The loan program had a simple goal – help companies impacted by the economic downturn keep their workers on payroll instead of laying them off. In Kentucky, layoffs have been disastrous, as tens of thousands of workers forced into the state’s unemployment system have been stranded without benefits for months. By far, the best way to help people in this crisis has been to keep them on their company’s payroll and health insurance plans.

As of June 21, nearly 50,000 Kentucky companies had received PPP loans totaling over $5 billion, saving thousands upon thousands of jobs in our state alone. There is no question that PPP has been a success, and I am proud to have voted for it.

In the interest of transparency, I am disclosing that my family’s manufacturing company – Trace Die Cast of Bowling Green – applied for and was granted a PPP loan. Trace was started in 1988 by my father, Lowell Guthrie, and today employs 400 workers.

Before I was elected to Congress, I worked at Trace, an automotive parts manufacturer, with my father and brothers. Today, I own 25 percent of the company and sit on the board of directors. I have no day-to-day role in the organization, and the company’s board voted to suspend all dividend payments and director fees after receiving the PPP loan. I was not involved in the company’s application for the loan, nor did I engage with any governmental office while the loan was being processed.

All money received by Trace from the PPP program has gone directly to salaries for workers, or to the direct operating costs of the business. I have not personally benefited from Trace’s loan and will not earn any money from my Trace ownership until the PPP loan is forgiven or paid off. For perspective, during a normal year, I would expect to earn $12,000 from my ownership in this business. This year, I will most likely earn $0.

I plan to append a note to my Personal Financial Disclosure form, due in August to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, disclosing the details of Trace’s PPP loan, worth approximately $4.4 million. Although I am not required to make this disclosure, it is right and proper as a member of Congress with substantial ownership in a company to be transparent in matters such as these.

When the pandemic hit, the automotive industry shut down for 10 weeks. No cars were being made, and Trace was effectively closed for business. Without the PPP loan, Trace would have been forced to lay off all 400 of its workers. Because of PPP, however, all Trace employees remained on the payroll and kept their company health insurance. Trace took the PPP loan for one reason – to take care of its people.

It isn’t often that you can say a government program worked perfectly, but for companies like Trace, and thousands of other employers in Kentucky, the PPP loan did exactly what it was supposed to do: keep workers on their company’s payroll instead of dumping them into the unemployment system.

I am committed to further economic recovery measures that will help Kentucky companies and workers get back on their feet. Kentucky is among the hardest hit states in terms of unemployment due to COVID-19, as nearly 50% of Kentucky’s workforce has applied for unemployment. You have my word that I will always put Kentuckians first when casting votes in the U.S. House, including policies that put people back to work as soon as possible.

It is an honor to serve you in Washington D.C. Please contact my office if I can be of any service to you as we navigate these strange times together.