Two Republican Senators are supporting a bill that would extend the end date from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) from August until December, Roll Call reported.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who chairs the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are delaying the bill because they believe the PPP should result in August. The PPP provides loans for businesses to assist offset the loss of funds from the pandemic, which can become grants if accustomed to pay employees.
The bill, passed by the home already, would modify the PPP by extending time recipients have to spend the cash from eight weeks to 24 weeks, and also extend the present June 30 end date for the program 'till the end of the season instead.
Conn Carroll, a spokesperson for Lee, told the news outlet that Lee believes the PPP was intended as a short-term solution.
Johnson, writing inside a May 31 Wall Street Journal opinion piece, said he'd like to see changes towards the program, for example forcing companies to show they need the money.
Rubio said he was primarily worried about one section of the bill that cuts down on the amount businesses need to spend 75 % of the funds on payroll to 60 percent. Rubio asserted provision would make it seem like there was a hard forgiveness standard for the entire loan, rather than just for the portion used on employee payments.
This prevents the quick passage from the extension, which would force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to invest floor time on the measure, that they typically doesn't wish to accomplish. McConnell says he really wants to occupy the bill \”soon\” and it has use it the Senate calendar.
A May survey by NFIB discovered that 54 percent of PPP recipients think they've got all their loans forgiven, and the other 27 percent expect around 75 percent is going to be forgiven, based on Roll Call.
But many companies are nearing their eight-week threshold when ever they need to have the money spent. And around $20 billion in loans has been returned, with some of that coming from smaller businesses unsure they can use their cash in a way that the loans could be forgiven, looking to avoid large debts.
