On June 30, a few hours before the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) expired, the U.S. Senate passed by unanimous consent a bill to extend the deadline for businesses to apply for coronavirus PPP aid until August 8^th. The program’s authorization to give out money ended June 30 with over $130 billion left unused. The U.S. House still needs to approve the legislation, and it’s unclear if they will. As such, until the House acts, the remaining PPP funds are unavailable.

The move by the Senate comes as Congress looks to put together legislation in July to provide relief for employees and employers with one last large coronavirus bill. Part of this may be attempts to provide new funding for and reforms to the PPP program. PIA National has sought continued assistance for small businesses and has supported improvements to the PPP so that it is more useful for business owners. We will continue to encourage reforms to the PPP and/or the creation of a COVID-19 recovery fund for businesses as the next coronavirus package is put together over the coming weeks.