As the Paycheck Prevention Program (PPP) reopens on Monday (April 27) with $310 billion, Bank of America (BoA) chief executive officer (CEO) Brian Moynihan said he thinks Congress should make the assistance big enough to help all small businesses.
“It’s clear that between Congress, the administration and the American people, we need to get all these funded and not make this a foot race. Just get the work done,” Moynihan told CBS on “Face The Nation” Sunday (April 26).
The first round of PPP funding approved on April 3 — $349 billion — ran out of money within days, and there is concern that the second round will follow suit.
Moynihan said there is “great debate” as to the amount of funding the PPP needs, but he thinks the government should extend the monies so that small businesses that are eligible can take part.
“The difference between this program and unemployment is if you qualify for this program, it’s like getting unemployment authorization and then having a foot race to the office,” Moynihan said.
“We need to take away the first-come, first-served aspects of this and make sure it’s fully funded, because at the end of the day, it’s going to where people want it: small businesses, 25% in our case to businesses in low and moderate-income neighborhoods, business with small numbers of employees. We just need to finish the funding and finish the work,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” that he hopes the PPP funds dry up fast “so we get the money into the workers’ pockets.” He also said the money would be “distributed fairly.”
On Thursday (April 23) Congress passed a $484 billion bill for more financial aid amid the pandemic, including $310 billion for the PPP. Also included was $75 billion in allotted funding for hospitals, which have become overwhelmed with cases of the virus, and $25 billion in funding for testing for the virus.
