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Federal lawmakers have agreed to revive the signature small-business relief effort established last spring, committing $285 billion for additional loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and allowing particularly hard-hit companies to get a second loan.
The $900 billion assistance package would restart the PPP the government’s small-business program created under the CARES Act through March 31, while doing away with the restriction that left more than $100 billion unspent over the summer.
Lindsey Munson, the administrator of the Montessori School of Charlottesville, Virginia, a day care and preschool, said she was ecstatic at the prospect of more help. “We’re literally living hand to hand, month to month,” she said.
Relief Deal Would Give Small Businesses a Shot at a Second Loan msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
But the biggest change would reopen the program to some businesses that had already received help.
When the Paycheck Protection Program expired in August, about $138 billion had not been spent. Many business owners who had received money said they would gladly take another loan, but the program’s rules prevented them from getting a second helping. The new relief bill offers a second cash infusion for those who meet stricter terms: Borrowers with fewer than 300 employees that had a 25 percent drop in sales from a year earlier in at least one quarter could qualify for an additional loan of up to $2 million.