by Zachary Warmbrodt at Politico
Congress on Thursday agreed to keep the Paycheck Protection Program alive for another two months, giving the nation’s small businesses more time to borrow billions of dollars in government-backed loans to stay afloat.
The Senate voted 92-7 in favor of legislation that would delay the PPP’s loan application deadline to May 31 from March 31, sending the bill to President Joe Biden for his signature following House passage last week.
The loans — approved by the Small Business Administration and distributed by private lenders — can be forgiven if businesses agree to maintain their payroll. The bill would also give the SBA 30 days after the proposed May 31 deadline to process pending applications.
Democrats and Republicans reached agreement relatively quickly over the last several days to keep the popular program open, after banks warned that loan applications were at risk of being stuck in a processing backlog created by new SBA fraud checks. The extension, backed by a wide array of trade groups, would also allow more employers to take advantage of new Biden administration rules designed to expand access to tiny businesses and others who struggled to obtain the loans previously.
“There’s no reason to let this program expire while there are scores of small businesses still in line and billions of dollars left in the program to provide desperately needed help,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
Passage of the bill is just the latest example of Congress intervening to continue the emergency rescue, which lawmakers created last March to keep workers and businesses going on a short-term basis during the pandemic. The temporary program has ballooned to nearly $1 trillion in funding and has seen its rules repeatedly revamped by lawmakers. The PPP has distributed more than 8 million forgivable business loans worth $718 billion since its launch last April.
Thursday’s vote probably won’t be the last time Congress revisits the program.
The extension bill does not include additional funding. While the SBA says…