Congress has voted to extend the deadline for business owners to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program for another five weeks.
The deadline to apply for emergency funding has been extended to August 8th.
Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Ben Cardin and other leaders are now proposing a plan that would make the additional 130 billion dollars in unused PPP funding available to small businesses in need, expanding on allowable expenses.
“Expand the use of the funds other than payroll, rent, utilities, mortgage, and expand to everyday operational functions, ” said Neil Shnider of Florida SBDC at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Ed Caracappa of What About Popcorn, a business in Cape Coral, says the majority of his expenses have been on personal protective equipment, but more funding would to grow the business.
“I’ d like to be able to invest some marketing funds to the activities that we are limited in our abilities to spend, and I’d also like to consider adding a third location, ” said Caracappa.
Many small businesses have already exhausted funds.
Brain Blackwell of The Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce says funding should first go to those who need it most.
“Who out there continues to be hurt by this, and how can we help support them? Quite a few businesses are not going to recover,” said Brian Blackwell.
He is also warning senators to allocate funding wisely.
“I don’t think we should be so quick to spend all $130 billion because we want to make sure that this doesn’t get any worse, but make the cash available to those who need it most,” said Blackwell.
Congress is expected to address further emergency relief funding in late July.
