Monica Crowley: House Bill Would Add Flexibility to Small Business Loans

A bill passed yesterday by the House of Representatives would make changes to the Paycheck Protection Progam in response to commentary the Trump administration has heard from small business owners, Treasury spokeswoman Monica Crowley said Friday.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from small businesses across the country, and in particular restuarants and hospitality. They have some issues with how restrictive some of the terms were,” Crowley said in an interview with Breitbart News Daily host Alex Marlow.

Crowley said that the House bill makes two important changes to the law. First, it changes the amount of the forgivable paycheck protection loans that must be spent on payroll from 75 percent to 60 percent. That would allow the loans to be used by businesses in high-priced areas such as New York City, where overhead costs like rent often make up a larger proportion of a business’s costs.

“Let’s say you have a small business in New York City, your overhead is a lot more than it would be in, say, Kansas City,” Crowley said.

The bill also allows the money to be spent over a longer period of time, effectively allowing businesses to borrow more under the program. The current law requires the loan proceeds to be drawn over eight weeks, with unused money reverting back to the government. But many businesses have said that because the shutdowns are lasting longer than expected and reopenings are slow and partial, they will need to use the loans over a longer period of time, Crowley said.

Crowley pointed out that the Senate still has to approve the changes and may adjust them further.

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