Washington — The Senate is expected to take up legislation Thursday expanding funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which provides loans to small businesses to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans hope to approve an additional $250 billion for the program, which was established as part of the massive $2.2 trillion relief package signed by President Trump last month.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will try to approve the measure by unanimous consent, which doesn’t require the presence of a majority of senators, most of whom have returned home.
“In just a few days, this program has become overwhelmingly popular. Thanks to the hard work of small businesses and lenders, billions of dollars have already landed and tens of billions more are already in the pipeline. Jobs are literally being saved as we speak,” McConnell said in a statement on Wednesday. “But it is quickly becoming clear that Congress will need to provide more funding or this crucial program may run dry. That cannot happen.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday requested Congress approve additional funding for the $350 billion loan program, which is designed to help small businesses keep employees on payroll and cover their bills during the pandemic. The Trump administration has said that billions of dollars have already gone out the door, but many small businesses who have applied for the loans say they have yet to receive any funds.
Senate Democrats are also expected to introduce their own version of the legislation Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made further requests Wednesday for an interim legislative package in addition to the $250 billion loan expansion, including money for hospitals and state and local governments.
The Democratic leaders want the measure to include $100 billion for hospitals and health systems for rapid testing and personal protective equipment, $150 billion for state and local governments and a 15% increase in the maximum food stamp benefit for families.
Of the $250 billion for small businesses, Democrats are calling for $125 billion to be specifically for farmers, women, minority, family and veteran-owned businesses and nonprofits, and are calling for improvements to ensure small businesses seeking loans are not rejected by banks.
However, Mr. Trump has signaled that he would not support Democratic demands, and Senate Republicans appear uninterested in negotiating.
“We don’t have time for the partisan games,” Mr. Trump said during the Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve announced Thursday that it would take additional action to provide up to $2.3 trillion in emergency loans to support the economy, including bolstering the PPP by supplying liquidity to financial institutions providing the loans to small businesses.
The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has been devastating. On Thursday, the Department of Labor announced that 6.6 million people filed initial unemployment claims in the week ending April 4, the third straight week of massive job loss.
Melissa Quinn contributed to this report.
