Dean Phillips

• Pandemic-program role: Lead sponsor of H.R. 7010, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020; chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations in the 117th Congress.
• Institution - office: U.S. House of Representatives - Minnesota - Committee on Small Business - Type: elected official
• Tenure (relief-relevant): Representative from Minnesota, January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2025 (House historian biography).

Dean Phillips introduced the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act on May 26, 2020, with Chip Roy of Texas as his first co-sponsor. Ten days later it was law.¹² The act stretched the period in which a PPP borrower had to spend the money to win forgiveness from 8 weeks to 24. It cut the share that had to go to payroll to 60 percent and pushed the program's deadlines from June 30 to December 31, 2020.² As chairman of a House Small Business oversight subcommittee from 2021, he held hearings on the Shuttered Venue and Restaurant Revitalization grants, on what economists had learned about PPP, and on fintech lending.³⁴⁵

Who he is

Phillips, born in St. Paul in 1969, was a businessman before Congress. He was elected as a Democrat from Minnesota in 2018 and served three terms. He did not run for reelection in 2024 and instead sought the Democratic presidential nomination, unsuccessfully (House historian biography).⁶

The Flexibility Act

H.R. 7010 was introduced by "Mr. Phillips (for himself, Mr. Roy, Mr. Upton, Mr. Fitzpatrick…)."¹ On the House floor on May 28, 2020, Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez credited Phillips and Roy with the bill and thanked Ranking Member Steve Chabot for helping draft it. Phillips used his time to read constituents' complaints about the original rules. A Minnesota hotel owner told him: "We could pay our employees but not our mortgages."⁷

The enacted law, Public Law 116-142, signed June 5, 2020, made five main changes:²

• the forgiveness "covered period" ran 24 weeks from origination (or to December 31, 2020, if sooner), with an option to keep the original 8 weeks;
• at least 60 percent of the loan had to go to payroll, with up to 40 percent for mortgage interest, rent and utilities, replacing the 75/25 split the administration had set by guidance;⁷
• the rehiring deadline moved from June 30 to December 31, 2020, and borrowers who could document that they could not rehire, or could not reopen fully because of federal health rules, were spared the forgiveness cut for lost staff;
• loans with a balance left after forgiveness got a minimum maturity of five years;
• forgiven borrowers could still defer their payroll taxes.

In a 2022 hearing statement Phillips called it "my bill."⁸

Oversight chairman

In the 117th Congress Phillips chaired the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations.

• May 27, 2021: a hearing on the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which he said "will deliver nearly $50 billion in relief to small firms." He framed both as relief for businesses that "can't afford to weigh down their balance sheets with more debt."⁹³
• March 16, 2022: "An Empirical Review of the Paycheck Protection Program," with GAO's William Shear and economists including Robert Fairlie. Phillips's statement put PPP at "almost $800 billion" and set the first round's average loan of $199,951 against about $44,000 in later rounds.⁸⁴ Shear told the subcommittee that SBA relied heavily on contractors, naming Guidehouse as "very much front and center" on automated controls.¹⁰
• July 13, 2022: a hearing on fintech lending. His statement said fintechs made small-dollar PPP loans "more effectively than traditional banks," then turned to annual rates on online business loans that "can start at 7 and climb higher than 100%," merchant cash advances and confessions of judgment.¹¹⁵

Since 2025

Phillips's House service ended on January 3, 2025 (House historian biography).⁶

Related profiles

• Nydia Velázquez: chair of the House Small Business Committee, who managed H.R. 7010 on the floor.
• Steve Chabot: the committee's ranking member in 2020.
• Marco Rubio: Senate Small Business chairman when the Senate passed H.R. 7010.
• Jovita Carranza: SBA Administrator when the act took effect.

Sources

1. H.R. 7010, Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, as introduced in the House, May 26, 2020. Original: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hr7010ih/pdf/BILLS-116hr7010ih.pdf ↩
2. Pub. L. 116–142, Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, June 5, 2020. Original: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-116publ142/pdf/PLAW-116publ142.pdf ↩
3. House Small Business Committee, "Phillips Conducts Oversight of SBA Pandemic Grant Programs," May 27, 2021. Original: https://democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3736 ↩
4. House Small Business Committee, "Phillips Gathers Experts to Examine PPP's Effectiveness," Mar. 16, 2022. Original: https://democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4207 ↩
5. House Small Business Committee, "Phillips Pushes Transparency in Small Business FinTech Lending," July 13, 2022. Original: https://democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4347 ↩
6. U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art & Archives, "PHILLIPS, Dean". Original: https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/P/PHILLIPS,-Dean-(P000616)/ ↩
7. Congressional Record, House, May 28, 2020, debate on H.R. 7010. Original: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2020-05-28/pdf/CREC-2020-05-28-pt1-PgH2332.pdf ↩
8. House Small Business Committee, "Statement of Hon. Dean Phillips on An Empirical Review of the Paycheck Protection Program," Mar. 16, 2022. Original: https://democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4206 ↩
9. House Small Business Committee, "Statement of the Hon. Dean Phillips on A Review of the SBA's Grant Programs," May 27, 2021. Original: https://democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3780 ↩
10. House Small Business Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations, hearing "An Empirical Review of the Paycheck Protection Program," Mar. 16, 2022. ↩
11. House Small Business Committee, "Statement of the Hon. Dean Phillips on Fintech and Transparency in Small Business Lending," July 13, 2022. Original: https://democrats-smallbusiness.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4348 ↩