Congress Votes to Ease Restrictions on PPP Loan Program

On June 3 the President designed to give small business owners more flexibility in how they spend money from a key coronavirus aid program, the PPP Loan Program. 

The legislation, called the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act, was approved in a nearly unanimous vote in the House and a unanimous vote in the Senate.

The Paycheck Protection Program, one of the core parts of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed in March, includes standards for how companies have to use their loans in order to get them forgiven. The measure passed Thursday would ease those rules. 

The law will: 

• Reduce the share of aid money small business are required to spend on payroll from 75% to 60% (the PPP’s architects aimed to encourage companies to keep workers employed)

• Extend the window businesses have to use the funds from two months to six months 

• Push back a June 30 deadline to rehire workers 

• Extend the time recipients have to repay the loan

• Let companies that get loan forgiveness defer payroll taxes