Coronavirus News
Trump signs 5-week PPP extension
President Donald Trump signed a bill Saturday, July 4, re-opening the application window for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) until Aug. 8.
The five-week extension had been approved last week by both chambers of Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate both passed the legislation by unanimous consent.
The House’s approval on July 1 came after the Senate passed the extension in a surprise move the night of June 30, just a few hours before the PPP application window was scheduled to close.
The extension keeps a source of funding open to struggling small businesses while Congress works on a second, more targeted funding program. The PPP, which has approximately $129 billion in funding remaining, was launched in early April as the COVID-19 pandemic battered the U.S. economy and forced many businesses to close. The program provides forgivable loans that small businesses and other qualifying entities can use to cover payroll and other select costs.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which oversees the program with the Treasury Department, stopped accepting loan applications at midnight on June 30. The program had not yet officially re-opened as of Sunday evening, according to the SBA’s PPP home page.
Read the complete July 4 Journal of Accountancy article.