President Donald Trump will deliver remarks from the Rose Garden Tuesday regarding the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — a coronavirus relief fund for small businesses that was replenished with the passage of last week's stimulus package.
The PPP was set up through the CARES Act — the bill that was passed in March that sent many Americans direct payments of $1,200. The PPP was designed to alleviate small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the $350 billion allocated by the bill was quickly depleted in the days after the CARES Act was passed. Later, it was revealed that more than 100 publicly-traded companies and some chain restaurants — including Shake Shake, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and Nathan's Famous — were granted loans of at least $10 million. All three of those restaurants and several other large companies have agreed to return the funds.
Congress agreed to allocate another $250 billion to the PPP when it passed an additional $484 billion stimulus package last week. The SBA has also approved new guidelines for the fund, which require companies to certify with their lenders that "cannot access relief through other means" before they can be granted the funds.
Trump's remarks come as White House staff have cut back on daily briefings from the coronavirus task force — Trump and the did not hold briefings over the weekend, and there is no briefing on the schedule for Tuesday.
During a coronavirus task force briefing on Thursday, Trump suggested doctors investigate a way to inject disinfectants into the body as a method to fight the coronavirus. Since those comments, several media outlets have reported the White House hopes to decrease the frequencies of the briefings
