WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill extending the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The Paycheck Protection Program FlexibilityAct allows borrowers 24 weeks instead of eight weeks to use their loan funds, and provides small business owners with greater flexibility in the use of loan funds.
“Extending the PPP reflects the reality of this pandemic. Many small businesses in Illinois are struggling to open or stay open and have asked for greater flexibility when using their PPP funds. My hope is that the bipartisan reforms to the PPP that passed yesterday will keep people employed and allow small businesses to survive,” Durbin said.
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Since the launch of the PPP in early April, the program has provided loans totaling more than $22 billion to more than 183,000 small employers across Illinois. The overwhelming majority of borrowers are very small – according to the latest data, nearly two-thirds of all PPP loans are for $50,000 or less, and the average size of a PPP loan is just $114,000, suggesting an average employer size of about 10 employees.
