WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The House of Representatives on Thursday night signed off on the COVID-19 relief package that allocates $310 billion to the depleted Paycheck Protection Program to aid small businesses.
The measure passed 388-5.
The funds will become available when President Donald Trump approves it, which he said previously he will. The $349 billion PPP loan program ran out of money on April 16. An additional $60 billion will be added to the Small Business Administration's other program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
The $484 billion relief package also includes a requirement that the Trump administration develop a national COVID-19 testing protocol and provide additional funds to hospitals.
When the president signs the relief package into law, retailers will be able to contact their lenders. PeopleForBikes encourages all applicants to have their financial materials prepared now.
"We've shared numerous bike business stories with Congress and will continue to advocate for additional rounds of critical funding," PeopleForBikes said in a statement.
In just under two weeks, the SBA said more than 1.6 million small businesses in all 50 states and territories received payroll assistance in forgivable loans. Nearly 5,000 lenders took part, with about 20% of the loans approved by lenders with fewer than $1 billion in assets and about 60% approved by banks with $10 billion or fewer in assets. No lender accounted for more than 5% of the total dollar amount of the program.
The low-interest EIDL offered up to $10,000 to businesses experiencing a temporary revenue loss. Both programs were offered to qualified small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Businesses applying for the EIDL in certain industries may have more than 500 employees if they meet the SBA's size standards for those industries.
The PPP loans are forgivable if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities.
