The extension 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. | AP Photo/Mark LennihanCongress 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.
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.
Outside of funding, the leaders of the House and Senate Small Business committees say they plan to consider further changes to the program after the extension. A top priority is to allow more self-employed Americans and sole proprietors to take advantage of more generous loan terms that the Biden administration began offering businesses in that category earlier this month. Lawmakersso businesses that received PPP funds before the change can go back and increase the size of their earlier loans.
Rubio's amendment would have restricted the SBA's ability to give priority to certain borrowers over others. Kennedy's amendment would have prohibited business owners from using the program if they had been convicted of a felony in relation to a riot or civil disorder going back two years.