The Trump administration said Friday that they will resume accepting small business loan applications from approved lenders on Monday morning, after President Trump signed legislation earlier in the day providing more than $300 billion in additional money for the depleted Paycheck Protection Program.
The Small Business Administration will resume taking applications on Monday, April 27 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time to give the government time to recode its system.
SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said lenders should process loan applications that had been previously submitted and disburse funds “expeditiously.”
Ms. Carranza and Mr. Mnuchin said the program has already supported more than 1.66 million small businesses and protected more than 30 million jobs, and that the new funding would benefit tens of millions of additional workers.
Congress had allocated $350 billion for the PPP in a previous $2.2 trillion rescue package, but the funds quickly ran dry as the SBA was overwhelmed with demand.
The money goes toward loans for small businesses dealing with the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak. The loans are ultimately forgiven as long as the companies use the money to keep employees on their payroll.
Some small businesses said they were left out in the cold in the last round of funding, even as major chains like Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Shake Shack managed to secure millions of dollars’ worth of loans.
Amid public outcry, those companies and others have said they would return the funds or that they wouldn’t accept money they had applied for.
The Treasury Department said this week that public companies with ready access to capital markets likely won’t be able to justify applying for the money.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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