The Small Business Administration has announced that within 14 days of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) going live, it has exhausted the $349 billion dollars allocated from the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. Jovita Carranza, the Administrator for the SBA, said their office has processed 14 years worth of loans in the just the last two weeks to give a picture of how much demand has been placed on this program.
In less than 14 days, @SBAgov has processed more than 14 years’ worth of loans. The #PaycheckProtectionProgram is saving millions of jobs and helping America’s small businesses make it through this challenging time. #CARESact
— Jovita Carranza, SBA (@SBAJovita) April 16, 2020
Carranza continues and states that, 'by law, the SBA will not be able to issue new loan approvals once the programs experience a lapse in appropriations'. The program is first-come, first-serve and with CNBC quoting a source saying over 1.3 million loans have been granted approval, scores more wait to find out if their relief funding has been approved while others are still scrambling to find a bank to even accept their loans.
Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, tweeted last week that he was working with members of Congress "to fund an additional $250 billion for the PPP loan program". There has been no formal indication of how or when these new reserves may come through.
At the direction of President @realDonaldTrump, I've spoken with @SenateMajLdr, @SenSchumer, @SpeakerPelosi, and @GOPLeader to secure an additional $250 billion for the #PPPLoan program to make sure small businesses get the money they need!
— Steven Mnuchin (@stevenmnuchin1) April 7, 2020
We will update this story as more information becomes available as Republicans and Democrats negotiate the best way to reup this program. Let us all hope that an agreement on the relief package comes sooner than later.