The popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provides forgivable loans to small businesses to keep them afloat during the pandemic, will reopen today with a few changes as the federal government attempts to better target the money to underserved, smaller businesses that need it most.
KEY FACTS
The PPP was re-upped by the $900 billion stimulus package President Trump signed just after Christmas.
The Small Business Administration will restrict lending on Monday and Tuesday, the first two days of the program, to community-based lenders like CDFIs making loans to first-time borrowers.
That restriction follows criticism that businesses with strong banking relationships and more resources were more easily able to access money from the first round of the program than were their smaller, less-resourced peers.
On Wednesday, the program will open up to second-time borrowers that can demonstrate losses of at least 25% between 2019 and 2020 and that have 300 employees or fewer.
The SBA said that larger lenders will be able to begin making loans under the updated program “shortly” after Wednesday, January 13, but did not specify an exact date.
This new round of the PPP will be open through March 31, 2021.
BIG NUMBER
$284 billion. That’s how much money the new stimulus bill set aside for the current tranche of the PPP.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“This updated guidance enhances the PPP’s targeted relief to small businesses most impacted by COVID-19,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a news release last week. “We are committed to implementing this round of PPP quickly to continue supporting American small businesses and their workers.”
KEY BACKGROUND
The PPP was set up by the historic CARES Act in March, which provided an initial $350 billion for forgivable loans that small businesses could use to cover payroll and overhead costs during the pandemic. After an overwhelming crush of applications and a chaotic launch period, that $350 billion ran out in just two weeks. The program faced harsh criticism after the revelation that dozens of public companies had received multimillion-dollar loans while smaller businesses without existing banking relationships had been shut out completely. In April, Congress passed a bill that replenished the PPP with another $310 billion and the program closed in August with $135 billion left in its coffers. The SBA says the PPP has supported more than 51 million jobs with 5.2 million loans worth $525 billion.
This article originally appeared on Forbes.
