Senate Republicans are divided over how to move forward with legislation to fix the Paycheck Protection Program likely delaying the process and requiring the Senate to have to hold a roll call vote on the House-passed bill that would give business owners more time and flexibility to use funding they received.
The disagreements spilled into the Senate GOP’s Tuesday lunch where Republicans were divided over whether the House proposal should get a standalone vote without additional fixes. Leaders had hoped to fast track the legislation this week with a unanimous consent agreement, but multiple lawmakers including GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota told CNN that a simple unanimous consent agreement wasn’t likely given how widespread disagreements are over the proposal.
“At the moment, it’s a complicated picture,” Thune said. “Multiple members are opposed for different reasons, but some are just opposed to doing anything right now. We have to see if we can create a process to address those concerns.”
The House-passed proposal increased how long businesses had to use their money from 8 to 24 weeks. It also allowed business owners to use up to 40% of their loan for expenses other than payroll and still get the loan forgiven. The current PPP program dictates business owners have to use 75%, not 60% on payroll to get the loan forgiven.
“I have concerns,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, who said he raised his issues during GOP lunch on Tuesday. “There is no rush right now and we really ought to consider if there is a better way of doing these things.”
Meanwhile, the Paycheck Protection Program has seen interest and applications flatline as many business owners have hesitated to even apply for money they believe they may not be able to use. Business owners have argued that rules around having to pay employees when their business have been forced to shutter are unhelpful and others have argued that there should not be limits on how much of the loan a business owner could use on rent in order to get the loan forgiven when many storefronts have had to close.