On Monday, February 22, 2021, President Biden announced enhancements to SBA's PPP lending program, specifically:
- It is instituting a 14-day period, starting Wednesday, during which only businesses with fewer than 20 employees can apply for relief through the Program.
- Helping sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals receive more financial support.
- Consistent with a bipartisan bill, eliminating an exclusionary restriction that prevents small business owners with prior non-fraud felony convictions from obtaining relief through the Paycheck Protection Program.
- Eliminating an exclusionary restriction that prevents small business owners who are delinquent on their federal student loans from obtaining relief through the Paycheck Protection Program.
- Ensuring access for non-citizen small business owners who are lawful U.S. residents clarifies that they may use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to apply for relief.
- Addressing waste, fraud, and abuse across all federal programs. Unlike the previous round of the PPP, loan guaranty approval is contingent on passing SBA fraud checks, Treasury's Do Not Pay database and public records.
- Promoting transparency and accountability by improving the PPP loan application.
- Improving the Emergency Relief Digital Front Door.
- Continuing to conduct extensive stakeholder outreach to learn more about challenges and opportunities to implement current emergency relief programs.
- Enhancing the current lender engagement model.
