More help for certain small business owners might be on the way if Congress approves another round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.
The Prioritized Paycheck Protection Program (P4) Act allows businesses with less than 100 employees to get a second loan. To qualify, they have to have spent or expect to exhaust their first PPP loan and can demonstrate a 50 percent revenue loss because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yahoo! Finance reported.
Cardin, the ranking member of the Small Business Committee, along with Senators Chris Coons (D-Delaware) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) introduced the bill within the Senate. In the home, U.S. Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minnesota) and Antonio Delgado (D-New York) ) introduced a similar bill.
The lawmakers the nation's small businesses still struggle because the shutdown continues.
\”In conversations with small businesses down and up the state of Delaware, it's become clear that many employers in vital sectors need more federal aid through the Paycheck Protection Program,\” Coons said inside a statement to Yahoo. \”Even as closures are ending, countless Delaware companies are struggling to survive this crisis.\”
The senators told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about their plan to advance the proposal during a recent Small company Committee. Mnuchin told lawmakers he'd be open-minded concerning the plan, the report said.
Under the plan, publicly-traded companies are ineligible, and hospitality and lodging businesses chains could be limited to as many as $2 million in loans, the report said.
In addition, the bill would reserve the lesser of $25 billion or 20 % from the cash for employers with fewer than 10 employees and businesses in underserved and rural communities.
\”The economic fallout from COVID-19 continues to be an existential threat to our nation's small businesses, and Congress cannot let up in its efforts to get them through this crisis,\” said Shaheen in a statement. \”This legislation prioritizes smaller businesses, specially those in the restaurant and hospitality industries, that have been hit especially hard in recent months.\”
Still, Kevin Kuhlman, v . p . of authorities relations for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, told Yahoo the 50 percent revenue loss provision within the proposal could be a problem for many of its members.
\”Even if your business has had 25 percent or 30 % revenue loss and they have high fixed costs or accounts payable, then they will be struggling as well,\” he explained.
