A fix to the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), created to help small businesses survive during the COVID-19 pandemic, was signed into law by President Trump on June 5.
The measure, which was supported by AFS, was unanimously approved by the Senate on June 3 and passed the House of Representatives the week prior.
The PPP Flexibility Act will:
- Extend the time period in which PPP loan recipients must spend the proceeds from 8 to 24 weeks
- Amend the 75/25 rule for how much businesses must spend on payroll versus non-payroll costs in order to get full forgiveness of the loan to 60/40
- Allow borrowers whose loans have been forgiven to defer payroll taxes
- Extend the rehiring deadline from June 30, 2020, to December 31, 2020, (with exceptions relating to employee unavailability).
“The American Foundry Society applauds the passage of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act by Congress. This will eliminate a number of restrictions and provide flexibility for a number of our metalcasting members that have received PPP loans administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA),” said Doug Kurkul, CEO of the American Foundry Society.
AFS advocated for these critical changes with congressional lawmakers and signed onto to key coalition letters with hundreds of business associations.