U.S. House passes bill to replenish Paycheck Protection Program for small business

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure on Thursday that will provide more funding for the depleted Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Originally a $350 billion piece of the federal coronavirus relief package, known as the CARES Act, PPP aimed to bolster the nation’s small businesses suffering under the coronavirus shutdown. The first round of funding for the government-backed loan program ran out quickly.

Before running out of money, the fund had made more 27,000 loans in Alabama, totaling nearly $5 billion. However, the National Federation of Independent Business earlier this week estimated that 80% of the country’s small businesses had yet to receive relief funding. In Alabama, 99.4% of all businesses qualify as small businesses under the standard set by the Small Business Administration, which is charged with administering PPP.

President Donald Trump is expected to quickly sign the legislation into law. In a message addressing small businesses, the White House said, “Within the next 24 hours, President Trump will be sending more help their way.”

Scott Latham, president and CEO of the Alabama Bankers Association, believes there will be immediate activity once PPP resumes.

“When funding for the first round of PPP was exhausted, a survey of our membership found that Alabama bankers still had at least 5,000 loans totaling $1 billion waiting to be funded,” he said in a statement. “Our bankers have been working around the clock to serve their customers. We applaud Congress – specifically Alabama’s delegation – for approving this much-needed additional relief for small businesses.”

Several members of Alabama’s congressional delegation released statements after voting for PPP. A common theme among them is that the U.S. House should have acted sooner to provide the additional PPP funding.

Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01):

“Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds can be the difference between thousands of small businesses continuing to employ American workers or shutting their doors forever. While we should have resupplied this bipartisan program days ago, I’m proud to vote to restart this important aid for our small businesses. I’m pleased this bill also provides funding for hospitals and to continue ramping up our testing capacity.”

Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06):

“Because of the unnecessary delays in passing legislation to help save small businesses and the jobs of the people who depend on them, we need a new acronym: NPPP, for the Nancy Pelosi Political Pause. After holding up passage of the CARES Act, which created the Paycheck Protection Program, Nancy Pelosi callously held up additional funding for almost a week that could have helped small businesses stay open and could have prevented millions of workers from being laid off.

“The Trump Administration formally requested more funding for the Paycheck Protection Program on April 7th, warning that the initial funding was running out. Two days later, April 9th, the effort to get more funding inserted into the program was blocked.

“One week later, April 16th, the Paycheck Protection Program ran out of money. At that time, there were 700,000 small businesses waiting for funds.

“Sixteen days after the Trump Administration asked for more funding, and a full week after the initial the Paycheck Protection Program funds ran out, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have finally allowed the passage of legislation that will add over $320 billion to the program. Everyone should now be asking themselves this: how many of the 4.4 million American workers who have been laid off from their jobs in the last week would not have lost their jobs if Speaker Pelosi had allowed Congress to increase the funding sooner?

“Instead of help, for 16 heart-wrenching days, small businesses and their employees were left in limbo as victims of the NPPP, the Nancy Pelosi Political Pause, knowing that with every passing hour, they were that much closer to losing their jobs and their businesses. I hope and pray that the funding we approved in this bill is not too late.”

Congressman Mike Rogers (AL-03):

“Today I voted for the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act. This bill will increase the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by an additional $310 billion. This vital program has helped millions of American workers and businesses get much-needed financial assistance during these challenging times.

“This action should’ve been taken over two weeks ago when President Trump requested more money for the PPP, or it could’ve happened last week when the program ran out of money. Instead, Speaker Pelosi wasted time with her ridiculous partisan political games. She also played politics with $75 billion for hospitals, including $10 billion specifically for rural hospitals like the ones in my district that are in desperate need.

“In the week the Democrats sat on their hands and allowed the PPP to go unfunded, 4.4 million Americans lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. As we move forward to reopen our economy and Congress works on the next round of legislation, I call on Speaker Pelosi to put America first and stop playing these partisan political games.”

Tim Howe is an owner of Yellowhammer Multimedia