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The Democratic-run House is planning a vote next week on a stand-alone bill that would extend a deadline for spending Paycheck Protection Program loans and make other changes to the $670 billion program.
Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, is also calling for pushing the deadline beyond the current eight weeks.
In addition, the Trump administration has voiced support for an extension, suggesting divided Washington might be able to make it a reality soon.
Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who has co-sponsored the House bill with GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, said last week that he agreed to vote for House Democrats’ sweeping $3 trillion aid package in part because he got a commitment that there would be a vote on his PPP measure. Phillips and Roy’s bill is called the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act.
“What it does is extend the time in which you can rehire people, extend the time in which you pay back, and also undo the 75-25, which was debilitating,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday at her weekly news conference, referring to the Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act and a PPP rule that requires that 75% of a loan’s proceeds go toward payroll expenses.
When asked by a reporter if passing a stand-alone PPP bill would give her less leverage with Senate Republicans who are strong backers of the program but don’t want other relief spending, the California Democrat said she’s “not worried about that.”
Rubio, for his part, said Wednesday on Fox News that there is almost unanimous support in the Senate for extending the period for spending PPP money from eight weeks to something like 12 weeks or 16 weeks.
“Everybody agrees — all right, this crisis has evolved,” the senator said. “We need to provide more time for people to use that money as opposed to having to return it. What’s the point of that, if they’re going to use it for payroll? I think the only question now is can we pass it as a clean bill.”
Rubio said “Democrats or someone else” could “insist that we add something else to it beyond just that provision,” but he wants action just on the one issue before the Senate goes on a break for Memorial Day week.
Restaurant executives on Monday pressed President Donald Trump to extend the deadline to 24 weeks, and he said their request was “very reasonable.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said there was bipartisan support, but going to 24 weeks might not happen.
House Democrats’ $3 trillion aid package that passed Friday also includes an extension, an elimination of the 75% rule and other changes to the PPP, but that broad measure is overall a non-starter for Republican lawmakers.
The PPP was established in late March and has received $670 billion in funding through the $2.2 trillion CARES Act and April’s $484 billion relief package. The program has drawn criticism over how public companies scored loans, as well as over sending money to less hard-hit areas and allegedly discriminating against businesses owned by women and minorities.
