Congress passes changes to PPP

The House and Senate have both passed a bill that would alter the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program. Businesses will now have up to 24 weeks to use forgivable funds, instead of the original eight weeks. The portion of the costs that must be spent on payroll has been reduced from 75 percent to 60 percent. The bill also changes many of the original legislation’s hard deadlines from the end of June to Dec. 31. The legislation needs to be signed by the president before going into effect, and the SBA will need to write new guidance to clarify the impact of the changes on eligible costs and forgiveness.

A survey by the National Federation of Independent Business reported earlier this week that 7 percent of businesses would have reached the 8-week limit by Monday, and nearly two-thirds of businesses would have reached it by the end of the month. The survey did not find much additional appetite for PPP loans, but with $511 billion approved through June 3, the SBA has more than $135 billion in loan volume still available to small businesses.