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Small businesses trying to survive the pandemic have been given a 5-week extension, until August 8th, for money remaining in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to be spent. The Senate voted Tuesday evening, less than 4 hours before it was set to end, to extend the federal loan program that was slated to end with more than $130 billion in unspent loan money.
The approval of the extension required unanimous agreement from all 100 senators, which many lacked confidence would happen. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) said, “I came here thinking that we would not be able to get agreement.” But with outbreaks on the rise and states slowing effort to reopen their economies, the consensus is that another measure will be required as the $2.2 trillion stimulus law expires at the end of July. PPP has become a bipartisan action as lawmakers from both parties are inundated with requests for assistance. The program has apportioned $520 billion in loans to over 4.8 million American small businesses across the nation, managed by the Small Business Administration.
The SBA faced criticism for distributing billions of PPP funds to publicly traded chains, in addition to the small businesses it was intended. $38 billion were ultimately returned to the government after attention was brought to the high profile recipients.
The short-term agreement came together with advocacy from across the aisle from senators including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), chairman of the Small Business Committee said before Tuesday’s vote for the extension, “Obviously, we’ll have to be more targeted at truly small businesses and, in addition to that, I’m also developing a program to provide financing for businesses in underserved communities or opportunity zones and other ZIP codes that would fall in that category.”
The Treasury Department and SBA credit PPP with saving millions of jobs. Though rules have been loosened by Congress, the SBA, and Treasury to allow more companies to receive funds and make loan forgiveness easier, borrowing from the program has slowed to a trickle.
The legislation is now headed to the House, which had already left for an expected 2-week recess before the bill was passed by the Senate. The bill would also require President Trump’s signature.
