Biden administration announced revised PPP to assist small business

Joe Biden administration launched a changed PPP program on Monday. The revised guidelines are more apparent towards minority-owned, small businesses and sole proprietary economy. Consequently, to reach the help for once ignored on the commencement of Paycheck Protection Program.

In addition to other changes to the loan program, businesses with more than 20 employees won’t be eligible to apply for the funding for 2 weeks starting Wednesday.

The self-employed, sole proprietors, and independent contractors can now qualify for more money. Although, They previously were excluded altogether or received as little as $1 because the loan amounts were calculated based on the number of employees.

Congress created the forgivable loan program last March to help hard-hit small business owners who had to close their doors because of state and local pandemic lockdown measures. The first round of loans was slow to reach the smallest businesses and those without an existing relationship with a lender may have missed out.

The Biden administration has not said whether it will seek to extend the program after the current tranche of funding expires on March 31. But Monday’s announcement signaled that the Treasury Department will continue to support the program at least in the short term while instituting relatively minor changes designed to tame its excesses.

“While the Paycheck Protection Program has delivered urgent relief to many businesses across the country, the initial round of PPP last year left too many minority-owned and mom-and-pop businesses out, while larger, well-connected businesses got funds quickly,” a senior administration official told reporters in a Sunday-evening call with news media.