PPP Application Deadline Extended Until Aug. 8

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to extend the deadline for businesses to apply for forgivable loan aid through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), CNBC reported.

The new legislation will extend the deadline to apply for forgivable loans to Aug. 8 from its previous date of June 30.

The measure was passed unanimously. Now, it heads to the desk of President Donald Trump for a signature.

The PPP, passed in March as part of the $2 trillion CARES Act, was the first wide-spanning action to help aid small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) after the pandemic hit, allowing them to apply for loans that could become grants if the money was used in a certain amount of time.

The Trump administration still has $130 billion in loans to give out from the PPP.

Congress’ initial $349 billion injection into the PPP was expended within weeks, attracting controversy over the fact that many large, publicly-traded companies were successfully able to request large amounts of loans for themselves despite not needing it.

Then, after the initial money was depleted, Congress added another $310 billion in April. Of that, $60 billion was set aside for small lenders to help with the issue of companies with no bank relationships that were having trouble getting loans.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted on Tuesday (June 30) that he wanted to see more helpful aid in the near future, rather than extensions of a program most had already used.

“I have no objection to extending the #PPP deadline until August 8th,” he wrote. “But the vast majority of #SmallBusiness that wanted to benefit from the program have already used it. What we really need to pass very soon is targeted help for those who need a second round of aid.”

The PPP hasn’t proved to be an instant fix. PYMNTS reported on a NFIB Research Center survey saying that 14 percent of recipients predicted they’d still have to lay off workers after using the money.