McConnell says Senate to take up House’s PPP flexibility bill

The legislation would also reduce an administration rule that requires borrowers to use at least 75 percent of the loans on payrolls to 60 percent. Businesses with relatively low labor costs but higher fixed costs like rent or utilities — such as restaurants or retailers — complained those restrictions were too strict to help their businesses stay afloat.

The bill, co-sponsored by Reps.  Dean Phillips, D-Minn., and  Chip Roy , R-Texas, would also lengthen the repayment term for parts of the loans that aren’t forgiven. PPP funds that don’t fully follow the program’s parameters must be repaid with a 1 percent annual interest within two years. The bill would extend the unforgiven loan term to five years.

FiscalNote, parent company of CQ Roll Call, has received a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program.

The House-passed bill is different from a bipartisan measure the Senate unsuccessfully tried to “hotline” on May 21 before leaving for a recess that ended Monday. That bill, backed by the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Small Business Committee, would have only lengthened the time period to use the loans from eight weeks to 16 weeks.

That Senate bill would not loosen the existing 75 percent payroll spending requirement. But it would allow businesses to spend the money on personal protective equipment and other infection-preventing investments, provisions that aren’t in the version passed by the House.