CBS19

An effort is underway to help businesses that may be entitled to a greater amount of assistance then they initially received from the Paycheck Protection Program.

Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger and other members of the U.S. House are urging the administration to provide targeted assistance to small businesses and to address disparities in the initial distribution of PPP loans.

According to a release, current guidance from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Treasury gave small businesses a very limited window to seek to increase their PPP loan amount through their lender.

Between this short time frame and the complexity of the application process, the members of Congress say many businesses, especially those that are seasonal or sole proprietors, have gotten smaller loans than they were entitled to get.

They sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza saying business owners need a flexible time frame to address disparities in their loan amounts, so they are asking to have immediate flexibility provided to PPP borrowers, especially because of legislative and regulatory changes that have occurred since the program launched.

“Preventing businesses from accessing full PPP assistance will have significant consequences for America’s economic recovery,” wrote the members of Congress. “For this reason, we ask that all available flexibility be provided to allow PPP borrowers to seek an increase in their loan amount if they are entitled to a greater level of assistance than they received.”