In less than two weeks, the Paycheck Protection Program exhausted its initial $349 billion funding.  Shortly thereafter, Congressional leaders began talking about what the next round of funding would look like.  On April 21, 2020, Senate leaders took to the Senate Floor and passed by unanimous consent additional CARES Act funding and Coronavirus aid.  We now have an idea of what’s included, and this bill was voted on and passed by the House on Thursday, April 23, 2020.  President Trump has already voiced his approval for this funding and is expected to sign it today, Friday, April 24, 2020.  Here is what is in the pipeline:

• The package on its way to President Trump’s desk totals approximately $484 billion.  

• $310 billion has been allocated to the Paycheck Protection Program, and $60 billion of the $310 billion will be set aside for smaller lending facilities, including “community financial institutions, small insured depository institutions and credit unions with assets less than $10 billion.”  This was designed to help smaller businesses in rural areas who didn’t have access to larger, more corporate, financial institutions.

• $10 billion has been allocated for grants under the Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance program, $50 billion for disaster recovery loans, and $2.1 billion for additional salaries and expenses for the Small Business Administration.

• $75 billion has been allocated to hospitals and $25 billion to testing, with $11 billion of the $25 billion to states and localities to purchase, administer, process, and analyze COVID-19 tests.   

We will continue to monitor the progress and will update you on any action.