Funds run out for federal business grant program, SBA says

Federal grants have run out for small businesses, farms and nonprofits trying to survive the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Sunday.
The economic disaster loan advance program has used up the $ 20 billion allowed by Congress, the US Small Business Administration said. As a result, the agency has stopped receiving applications for Advance grants, which can be up to $ 10,000 per applicant and do not need to be reimbursed.
However, the SBA continues to accept applications for the Companion Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loans, or EIDL. To apply, go to covid19relief.sba.gov/#/
EIDL loans are up to $ 2 million from the US Department of the Treasury with interest rates of 3.75% for small businesses and farms, and 2.75% for non-profit organizations. lucrative. The loan term can be up to 30 years.
SBA administrator Jovita Carranza announced on Sunday that nearly 6 million employers have received Advance grants and, as a group, they employ 30.5 million people. The grants went to employers with 500 or fewer employees.
In New York State, 392,366 employers have received a total of more than $ 1.1 billion in Advance grants as of July 3. It is the fifth after California, Florida, Texas and Illinois, according to the SBA. Data for Long Island has not been released.
The Advance grants are “unprecedented” as Congress created them in response to shutting down all non-essential activities to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Carranza said on Sunday. EIDL, on the other hand, has been around for decades, helping businesses recover from disasters like Super Storm Sandy in October 2012.
In April, Congress added more funds for Advance Grants and may do so again. But in the meantime, the SBA cannot issue new grants, Carranza said.
The popularity of Advance Grants helped the SBA put the application process on hold for about two months to process more than 5 million applications received in a matter of weeks in the spring.
In May, the agency resumed receiving grant applications, but only from farmers. It started accepting grant and loan forms from small businesses and nonprofits again last month.