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Late last week, the Senate unanimously approved the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (H.R.7010) – which includes many industry priorities to reform the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). NMMA applauds Congress’ continued efforts to provide businesses with assistance during this time of economic uncertainty.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill late last week and the President signed the measure on Friday. NMMA has been urging Congress to make changes to the PPP to give the industry more flexibility with the funding. Below is a breakdown of the specific provisions.

• Extends the loan forgiveness period from eight weeks to twenty-four weeks.
• Reduces the 75 percent payroll ratio requirement to 60 percent.
• Allows payroll tax deferment for PPP recipients.
• Extends the June 30 rehiring deadline to December 31.
• Exempts PPP recipients from the reduction in loan forgiveness due to a reduction in employees, if the business can document “in good faith”:
  • The inability to rehire individuals who were employees on February 15 or hire qualified individuals for unfilled positions before December 31; or
  • The inability to return to the same level of business activity before February 15 due to complying with federal public health guidance.

NMMA will continue to work with Congress and the administration to ensure the industry’s priorities are addressed. As a reminder, NMMA has a COVID-19 webpage to serve as a one stop shop for a variety of helpful resources for manufacturers, business owners, and the general public: https://www.nmma.org/coronavirus.

For more information, please contact NMMA director of federal government relations, Clay Crabtree at [email protected].