Congress is working on the next stimulus package to help the economy weather the coronavirus pandemic. One of the largest pieces of the package is expansion of the Paycheck Protection Program, a small business loan service that ran out of money last week.
The program provides funding to small businesses to allow them to continue to pay their employees and other expenses. Senator Rob Portman says he expects around $300 billion in expanded funding for the program in the bill. While Portman says simply providing more money is important, he also says the PPP should also be analyzed in terms of which businesses receive the money, and what they’re allowed to use the money for.
“The bottom line is we’ve got a very popular program here, we’ve got $350 billion already out the door, now we’re going to put another roughly $300 billion against it, and we want it to go to the people who need it the most.”
Portman says bars and movie theaters are examples of businesses most in need because they may not be able to open as soon as other businesses, so they will need the money over a longer period to be able to pay their bills.
He says he is hopeful a package will be agreed to and voted on by the end of the week.
