Beginning on Monday. Small businesses that missed out on the first round of loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program can apply for a new round of the pandemic-related emergency loans
This week, Congress approved the $310 billion for the second round after an initial $349 billion fund was quickly exhausted.
in a news briefing Friday. Jeremy Field, the regional administrator for the SBA Pacific Northwest Region, said “Our economy is dependent on the small businesses, so we need to and are doing everything in our power to ensure that they make it through the impact of this horrible pandemic,”
. In Washington, the SBA oversaw 30,421 loans totaling $6.96 billion before the program ran out of funds last week.
This program has helped small businesses primarily to retain or rehire employees But the program also has been criticized for underestimating the amount of money needed by small businesses during the pandemic, and for not making loans more accessible to smaller businesses. Some small business owners in Seattle say they were either unable to apply for loans or were not approved before the funding ran out. In Washington, the SBA oversaw 30,421 loans totaling $6.96 billion before the program ran out of funds last week.
Critics also claim that the program favored much larger firms, as well as those in sectors that hardly felt the impact of layoffs. According to the Wall Street Journals, SBA loans of $1 million or more represented just 4% of all applications, but accounted for nearly half of the money lent out — a pattern that indicated “larger companies received a disproportionate share of aid,” said the Times.
An analysis by the Urban Institute found that the accommodations and food industry, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of the job losses in March, received just 9% of the program’s funds, while the professional, scientific, and technical services sector, which saw an increase of 7,500 jobs during that time, got 12.3% of the program funds. Critics hope it won’t be so this time