On Wednesday, July 1, 2020, the House passed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), extending the small business loans until August 8. The bill was passed by unanimous consent after the Senate passed it (S.4116) the previous evening via unanimous consent led by the Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and House Small Business Chair Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) agreed to pass a “clean” extension of the program rather than adding conditions to the Senate-passed bill.
Approximately $130 billion remains unspent in the PPP program and Small Business Committee Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) has said “he wants to repurpose the unclaimed funds to help the hardest hit small businesses.” This has been endorsed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who would allow businesses demonstrating particularly large drop-offs in revenue to apply for additional forgivable loans.
Applications for the program have declined in recent weeks and the amount of loan money available increased as some borrowers returned their loans or paid them back early. Chairwoman Velazquez state that “giving businesses more time to apply for a PPP loan is a critical to helping more Main Streets across America rebuild and find a path to recovery. While extending the program will give additional eligible businesses the opportunity to apply, it is imperative that the Administration take overdue steps to repair its botched PPP rollout,” she said.
