The Paycheck Protection Program was meant to help small businesses clobbered by coronavirus shutdowns. But the law's fine print allowed thriving companies to get the money, too.
"For us to be able to increase our manufacturing capabilities, we thought that having this supplemental dollar amount or loan would be very helpful ... in helping us," says Gail Page, a Chembio board member and former interim CEO."When you get these pandemics, then there's all of a sudden this big rush and you need to be able to supply."
"The goal here isn't to expand the size of the companies," says Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the D.C.-based Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget."The goal here is to kind of keep them alive while we get through this crisis." Page says it was totally proper for her company, which has gotten government grants over the years to work on testing, to take the paycheck protection money.
One problem with the first round of disbursements was that the law was murky. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., expressed concern in a written statement last week that companies not harmed by the pandemic found loopholes and got millions of dollars in loans. Much of those loans will be forgiven by the government if they're used properly.
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