PPP application deadline should be extended and fixes made to program to keep recovery going

The Hill
Monday, June 29, 2020

The CARES Act created the extremely successful Paycheck Protection Program which has helped small businesses maintain payroll during these challenging times. The U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury), the Small Business Administration (SBA) and over 5,000 lenders took quick action to launch this program and have provided an unprecedented 4.8 million loans. The deadline to apply for the PPP is June 30, 2020, but an additional $140 billion of PPP funds remain unobligated. To ready our small business, lenders and entrepreneurs for learning how to “live with the virus” and move towards reopening, we recommend Congress take action on the following: extend the application date, clarify the length of the loan term, ease the loan forgiveness application, authorize $5 billion of the remaining PPP funds to the Community Development Financial Institutional (CDFI) Fund.