Washington, D.C. – Leading financial services trade associations today wrote Congressional leadership calling for Congress to quickly authorize additional funds for the Paycheck Protection Program. Funds from the original $349 billion authorization are expected to be fully obligated soon, leaving out countless small business owners and their employees still awaiting access to the program.
“The Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program has already provided a critical economic lifeline to small businesses across the country. Unfortunately, millions of other small businesses still need assistance which is why federal funding for PPP needs to be increased. Those businesses and their employees now face immediate economic threats related to the COVID-19 pandemic unless Congress acts. Banks of all sizes are eager to provide much-needed funding to our nation’s small businesses. While the Paycheck Protection Program has encountered challenges from the beginning, more than 4,600 lenders are participating. We call on Congress to expeditiously increase PPP funding to support lenders’ efforts, ensuring small businesses throughout our country have the opportunity to apply for and receive PPP loans,” the association heads wrote.
A copy of the letter, signed by American Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, Consumer Bankers Association and the Financial Services Forum, is available here.
Once the $349 billion authorized in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act is exhausted, SBA can no longer process or guarantee loans under the program. The full value of these loans, which are available for 2.5 times a small business’s monthly payroll up to $10 million, is fully forgivable if the business uses at least 75 percent of the loan for payroll costs.
American Bankers Association: Jeff Sigmund
Bank Policy Institute: Sean Oblack
Consumer Bankers Association: Nick Simpson
Financial Services Forum: Barbara Hagenbaugh
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About the Bank Policy Institute. The Bank Policy Institute (BPI) is a nonpartisan public policy, research and advocacy group, representing the nation’s leading banks and their customers. Our members include universal banks, regional banks and the major foreign banks doing business in the United States. Collectively, they employ almost 2 million Americans, make nearly half of the nation’s small business loans, and are an engine for financial innovation and economic growth.
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