A $350 billion program designed to help small businesses struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic has officially been depleted, the White House said on Thursday. The Small Business Administration stated on its website that it is “unable to accept new applications … based on available appropriations funding.” While Democrats and Republicans have agreed to a $250 billion addition to the program, they have not been able to reach a consensus on certain restrictions for the funds, as well as whether to add more money for hospitals, local governments, and food stamp recipients, The Washington Post reported. The partisan quarrel over how to update the exhausted program comes as unemployment claims in the United States soar past 22 million. As of Thursday, more than 1,637,000 loan applications to the Paycheck Protection Program amounting to “over $339 billion” had been accepted, according to the SBA.
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