The Reporter (Lansdale, PA)

House approves changes to business aid subsidy program

- By Andrew Taylor and Lisa Mascaro

The House gave sweeping bipartisan approval Thursday to legislatio­n to modify a new “paycheck protection” program for businesses that have suffered COVID-related losses, giving them more flexibilit­y to use federal subsidies for other costs and extending the lifespan of the program as the economy continues to struggle.

The compromise measure passed by a 417-1 vote and now heads to the Senate, where passage is likely next week. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law, though talks remain stalled on a much bigger measure to inject more than $3 trillion into the tumbling economy.

The changes to the program come as many smaller businesses such as restaurant­s struggle to survive coronaviru­s -related ruptures to the economy as states permit shuttered businesses to reopen.

As enacted in late March, the Paycheck Protection Program required businesses to spend their loan money within an eightweek window to get the loans forgiven. It also required that three-fourths of the money be spent on payroll as a means of keeping workers linked to their jobs. But small businesses say there are several fixes needed to the program.

For instance, the eightweek window created a dilemma for businesses, in particular restaurant­s that under the law were required to rehire all their laid-off workers even though they were either closed or limited to takeout and delivery. Many business owners feared that they would use up their loan money before being allowed to reopen, and then have to lay off employees again because their business wouldn’t bring in enough revenue to keep paying everyone.

“I think we can all agree the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19 has proven more severe and drawn out than many anticipate­d,” said Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y. “We need to give borrowers more than eight weeks to use the funds in order to qualify for loan forgivenes­s.”

The new measure gives business owners 24 weeks to spend the federal aid — instead of eight as originally designed — and extends the program through the end of the year while also lengthenin­g the the maturity date and deferral period of the loans.

The legislatio­n has the backing of GOP-friendly business groups like the National Federation of Independen­t Business, which was critical of delays by Democrats of legislatio­n earlier this month to replenish the program’s funding. Congress has provided about $660 billion to the program — roughly the size of the annual defense budget — helping 4.4 million businesses so far.

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