The White House and Congress came to an agreement Tuesday to provide $484 billion more in aid for struggling small businesses that included additional funding for hospitals and COVID-19 testing, The Washington Post reports. The Paycheck Protection Program began with $349 billion for emergency loans to small business, but it ran out of funding before many businesses could take advantage of it. The legislation to fund it a second time will add $310 billion to its coffers; $60 billion will go to a separate business loan program, $75 billion will go to hospitals, and $25 billion will fund coronavirus testing initiatives.
President Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Mitch McConnell all praised the proposed legislation on Twitter. The new coronavirus has brought a wide swath of businesses to their knees through widespread mandated closures, leading the U.S. government to pass massive stimulus measures to mitigate the damage.
