President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in late afternoon yesterday that was followed by his first address to the nation later that evening. He took the occasion to recognize the enormous challenges of the past year and the over 500 thousand who lost their lives to COVID-19, while offering hope for the future.
His optimism was conveyed by the accelerating pace of vaccine distributions of almost 2 million per day, suggesting the U.S. could be approaching “normal” by July 4th—with some qualifications that included ongoing usage of masks, social distancing and other factors.
The 1.9 trillion dollar pandemic relief package in the American Rescue Plan Act is intended to give a strong push on the U.S. economy that many economists have urged given the high number of unemployed and the stress of key industries and small businesses from the pandemic.
The SBA programs currently assisting small businesses gained more funding and new initiatives were added that included the following in the SBA’s release:
- $7.25 billion additional for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), including to expand eligibility to additional nonprofits and digital news services
- Additional funds are allocated for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program, and now allows businesses to apply for both a PPP loan after Dec. 27, 2020, and the SVOG
- $15 billion additional for Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance (EIDL) payments, including NEW $5 billion for Supplemental Targeted EIDL Advance payments for those hardest hit
- NEW: $28.6 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund for industry-focused grants
- NEW: $100 million to establish a Community Navigator pilot program; grants will go to eligible organizations supporting efforts to improve access to COVID–19 pandemic assistance programs and resources.
More information for SBA COVID-19 programs can be found on the SBA web site
