Restaurant executives plead with Trump for more flexibility with PPP loans amid coronavirus pandemic
May 18, 2020 / By Andrew O’Reilly | Fox News
Restaurant executives and industry leaders pushed President Trump on Monday to make fixes in the $660 billion small-business aid program that was enacted amid the coronavirus pandemic to allow them to get their businesses running again and rehire workers.
Executives from fast food eateries to Michelin-starred restaurants pressed Trump during a roundtable meeting to move to change the rules of the Paycheck Protection Plan so that they have more time to spend the money from their loans in rehiring employees.
Under the plan’s current rules, loans are forgiven as long as borrowers spent 75 percent on payroll within eight weeks of getting the money and only 25 percent of the loan can be spent on rent, mortgage interest, and utilities. Executives are asking the White House and Congress to extend the period to at least 24 weeks.
