■ Biden visited a D.C. store to tout changes to the Paycheck Protection Program.
Moves meant to boost U.S. small businesses
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden visited a hardware store in the nation’s capital Tuesday to highlight changes he made to the Paycheck Protection Program to benefit small businesses.
Biden administration officials announced last month that for two weeks starting Feb. 24, the Small Business Administration would only accept applications for the forgivable loan program from firms with fewer than 20 employees. That’s meant to ensure that they are not crowded out by larger firms.
The exclusivity period for small businesses ended Tuesday, with White House officials reporting that the effort led to a 20 percent increase in minority businesses and a 14 percent increase in women-led businesses receiving loans. There was also a 12 percent boost in businesses in rural communities receiving loans, compared with the daily average of the 10 days preceding the exclusivity period.
“We found out that an awful lot of that went to bigger businesses that weren’t supposed to qualify,” Biden said during a visit to W.S. Jenks & Son hardware store.
The Biden administration also changed eligibility rules for the program.
Self-employed, sole proprietors and independent contractors can now qualify for more money. Restrictions prohibiting some business owners who were previously ineligible because of student loan debt and non-fraud felony convictions were also lifted.
Biden met with the co-owners of the hardware store, as well as the owner of Little Wild Things Farm, an urban vertical farm located on the same property. Both businesses received a loan in the past two weeks.
The SBA has disbursed about $680 billion of the $796 billion of funding appropriated by Congress for the program.