CARES Act stimulus for small businesses

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
The PPP is designed to encourage small businesses to retain employees through the COVID-19 crisis. It extends the SBA's 7(a) loan program to provide up to $659 billion in partial or fully forgivable loans to eligible small businesses to cover payroll and certain other operational costs from February 15, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Loans up to 2.5x the borrower's average monthly payroll will be forgiven if at least 60% of the loan is used to pay payroll costs, and not more than 40% of the loan is used to pay mortgage interest, rent, or utilities during the 24 weeks after the loan is made.

On April 24, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (PPPHCE Act) (Pub. L. No. 116-139 (H.R. 266)) was enacted to increase funding under the CARES Act. This added $310 billion for PPP loans, $50 billion for EIDLs, and $10 billion for EEIGs.

On June 8, 2020, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (PPPF Act) was enacted to give more time and flexibility to small businesses to retain their employees and ensure their continued operations as the country slowly reopens amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

The CARES Act also authorized the Federal Reserve to establish a "Main Street Lending Program" to support lending to small and medium-sized businesses that were in good financial standing before the COVID-19 outbreak. The Federal Reserve announced three Main Street lending facilities:

• Main Street New Loan Facility (New Loan Facility). Eligible borrowers may apply for five-year loans of up to $35 million.
• Main Street Expanded Loan Facility (Expanded Loan Facility). Eligible borrowers may apply to increase the amounts of their existing loans or lines of credit up to $300 million.
• Main Street Priority Loan Facility (Priority Loan Facility) is a hybrid of the New Loan Facility and the Expanded Loan Facility. Eligible borrowers may apply for five-year loans of up to $50 million.