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Robert A. Westbrooks, Executive Director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), announced a new way to view data on PandemicOversight.gov.

Loans are forgivable (they don’t need to be repaid) if a borrower meets certain requirements, such as using at least 60% of the loan for payroll costs. Given the average PPP loan amount is $59,000, forgiveness can be financially significant to a borrower.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was a new Small Business Administration (SBA) loan program created by the CARES Act to help small businesses keep their workers on payroll. The program provided a total of $798.7 billion to 11.7 million businesses, keeping around 90 million jobs on payroll.

Between February 24 and March 9, 2021, only small businesses and non-profits with fewer than twenty employees could apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Our data shows more than 436,438 loans totaling $13.8 billion were approved during that two-week window.

Millions of Americans have struggled to pay rent during the pandemic, and now face the possibility of eviction. To help meet this need, Congress created the Emergency Rental Assistance program in December 2020, making $24 billion available to state and local governments to help households pay rent or utilities.

The PRAC’s Financial Sector Oversight working group released a new video of a stakeholder listening forum entitled, “Pandemic Response: Perspectives from Borrowers.”

Michael Horowitz (Chair of the PRAC) testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis about pandemic relief programs for small businesses.

The first in a series of virtual panels with banking and financial services experts, this panel included speakers from lenders and financial institutions that administer programs established or expanded through pandemic relief legislation. Panelists represented a variety of views ranging from community banks, minority depository institutions, and large financial institutions. Learn more and view the video.

Speakers representing the perspective of small business borrowers share their experiences with programs like the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan and give recommendations to improve pandemic response programs.