Small Businesses Await Funds as Congress Talks Near an Agreement

  • Plan would provide $310 billion to Paycheck Protection Program
  • Senate hopes to vote on nearly $500 billion package on Tuesday

Closed stores and restaurants on Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on April 20.

Photographer: Holly Pickett/Bloomberg
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Congressional leaders are on the brink of a deal to bring a fresh round of pandemic relief to small businesses, seeking to overcome partisan squabbling less than a week after the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program ran out of funds.

The Senate has scheduled a late afternoon session Tuesday in anticipation of approving an agreement on a nearly $500 billion stimulus bill, including $310 billion to replenish the small business program. But negotiations with the Trump administration ended early Tuesday without a deal being reached.