Last night the U.S. Senate approved H.R. 7010. The bill was passed by the House last week. If signed by the president, it will make the paycheck protection program more flexible.

For the loans to be forgiven, businesses will have 24 weeks to spend loan funds (instead of eight); 60 percent (instead of 75 percent) of the loan must be used for salaries; and a business’s employees and salaries must be at Feb. 15 levels by Dec. 31, 2020 (instead of June 30). Additionally, if the loans do not qualify for forgiveness, businesses now have five years (instead of two) to pay them back.

As I noted on Tuesday, concerns had been raised about whether some of the language in the bill would actually reduce flexibility. In the end, though, the bill was passed without amendment by voice vote in the Senate. Roll Call reports that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) had initially objected:

Johnson said he’d allow the unanimous consent request if McConnell along with the leaders of the Senate and House small business committees signed a letter clarifying that an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program to the end of December would apply only to spending and not extend the application deadline.