According to the Small Business Administration, 92,627 loans have been made to Washington businesses under both rounds of the paycheck protection program. (The numbers are through May 30.) Altogether, $12.014 billion has been approved for Washington businesses (this figure was revised down since the May 8 report).

Currently, the loans are forgivable if businesses do not reduce the number of employees and salaries (in place on Feb. 15, 2020) as of June 30, 2020. To be forgiven, amounts must be spent within eight weeks. Additionally, rulemaking specified that in order for the loans to be forgiven, 75 percent of the funds must be used for salaries.

Last week, the U.S. House passed a bill that would add more flexibility to the program. Under the bill, businesses would have 24 weeks to spend the money, and just 60 percent of the loan would have to be used for salaries. Employees and salaries would have to be at Feb. 15 levels by Dec. 31, 2020.

According to Politico, “Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) supports the House-passed bill and will move to put it on the floor next week.” However, there are some potential technical issues with the bill that could slow its progress:

The bill states that to receive loan forgiveness a business “shall use at least 60 percent” of the loan amount for payroll costs. The wording has created concerns that, instead of giving flexibility to businesses as intended, this measure would stop them from having any portion of their loans forgiven if they don’t hit the 60 percent requirement. . . .

[Sen. Marco] Rubio has identified the 60 percent language as a problem, as well as a section that would change requirements for rehiring employees, which his office argues could eliminate an employee retention mandate.