House Expected to Vote This Week
On Tuesday, April 21st, the U.S. Senate passed the “Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act” to increase funding for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This interim coronavirus aid package grants an additional $310 billion to the PPP and an additional $10 billion to the Emergency Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) program. The PPP will still be administered through banks and credit unions, and the EIDL application process will still be administered through the SBA. The aid package also includes funding for necessary expenses to research, develop, and expand capacity for COVID-19 tests.
While this new stimulus package does not include changes to the period in which small business owners have to seek forgiveness for these SBA loans. The AAO will continue to lobby the Department of the Treasury to consider allowing small business dental practices to choose the 8-week period for which they seek forgiveness for the loans and rehire back staff before December 31, 2020, instead of requiring them to rehire staff by June 30, 2020. We will also continue to lobby Congress for these changes in any subsequent stimulus packages.
We are happy to report that AAO members have sent over 1,600 messages to members of Congress to ask for additional funding and flexibility for SBA loans. You can click here to contact your members of Congress.
The House is expected to vote on this legislation as soon as this week. The AAO will provide an update as it becomes available.
For questions about the PPP and EIDL program, please visit www.aaoinfo.org/virus.
