On July 4th, President Donald Trump signed a bill which re-opened the application window for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) until August 8. The five-week extension had been passed by The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate with unanimous consent.
The extension keeps a source of funding open to struggling small businesses, while Congress works on a second, more targeted funding program. The PPP, which has approximately $129 billion in funding remaining, was launched in early April as the COVID-19 pandemic battered the U.S. economy and forced many businesses to close. The program provides forgivable loans that small businesses and other qualifying entities can use to cover payroll and other select costs.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which oversees the program with the Treasury Department, stopped accepting loan applications at midnight on June 30. The SBA began accepting applications again at 9:00am July 6th.
