Passage in U.S. House expected tomorrow.
The U.S. Senate yesterday approved additional funding for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) portion of the CARES Act that provides low interest loans for small businesses that can be forgiven if the business uses 75% of the funds for payroll.
Congressional Democrats held up a Republican Senate Bill two weeks ago that would have provided an additional $250 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program to keep it open. As a result, the program ran out of funding and applications to the program by small businesses were halted.
The new funding is expected to be approved by the U.S. House tomorrow and applications should be able to restart shortly.
According to CollisionWeek research, over 80% of collision repair facility operators that responded to a survey indicated they had applied for PPP loans and over 12 percent had already received funding.
“I am encouraged that Democratic leaders have finally agreed to reopen the Paycheck Protection Program and abandon a number of their unrelated demands,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in a statement released following the passage. “Republicans never wanted this crucial program for workers and small businesses to shut down. We tried to pass additional funding a week before it lapsed. But Democratic leaders blocked the money and spent days trying to negotiate extraneous issues that were never on the table. I am grateful our colleagues have walked away from those demands and will finally let Congress act.
McConnell continued, “This bipartisan agreement will provide more than $320 billion in additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, which is already helping millions of small-business employees receive paychecks instead of pink slips. This is even more money than Senate Republicans first requested. At our request, there will now be a special focus on community banks and credit unions. Thanks to the hard work of colleagues such as Senator Collins and Senator Rubio, there will also be $60 billion more for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, and because of the hard work of Senator Roberts, Senator Daines, and our other colleagues from rural states, it will be clear that farmers and ranchers are eligible.
In a press briefing yesterday, President Trump stated, “My administration has worked aggressively with Congress to negotiate this critical 482-billion-dollar funding package. We reached a deal that includes $382 billion in crucial small-business support to keep workers on the payroll; $75 billion to aid hospitals, which really need the aid, and very badly — I’m very proud of that; and $25 billion to support coronavirus testing efforts. I urge the House to pass the bill, and they’re going to be voting on it, I imagine, very — very soon.”
I a joint statement on the passage, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, said, “Congressional Democrats are proud to have secured an agreement on an interim emergency funding package that has been transformed to provide real support for the lives and livelihoods of the American people.”