Secretary Mnuchin Supports Changes to PPP to Help Restaurants
Today, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the government will look to make fixes to help restaurants and others participate in the $660 billion PPP small-business aid program, a move that could help ease some of the criticism surrounding the program.
The PPP’s forgiveness requirements mandate borrowers spend 75% of the loan on worker salaries, and for the forgivable amount to be spent over an eight-week period. That has drawn objections from many business owners who say they need more money for rent and other overhead costs and from industries that remain mostly closed, as mandated by state regulations.
“One of the things we’re particularly sympathetic to are the restaurants,” Mr. Mnuchin
said in an interview on CNBC. “Many of the restaurants are just beginning to open up
and have said that they’d really like to hold the money. They can’t do that; that’s not
something we can do. But we’ll look at a technical fix.”
The National Restaurant Association said it welcomed Mr. Mnuchin’s comments, saying
restaurants need more flexibility in use of the loans.