Payroll Protection round two

The Small Business Administration’s inspector general will investigate the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program, a spokesman for the independent watchdog agency tells ABC News. Specifically, the agency will review timing of the implementation, lender participation, the guidance provided to lenders, the system used to process loans and the timeliness of loan approval and disbursement. The original program has been under scrutiny since its rollout earlier this month. Chief criticism of PPP round one was that large business received loans at the expense of Main Street small businesses. So many business owners went online with applications for round two of the federal government’s Payroll Protection Plan that, at first, the system crashed. In an Oconee Chamber of Commerce news program, an aide to U-S Rep. Jeff Duncan explained how the system crashed and then was able to re-open. Many businesses see payroll protection as a way to keep their businesses alive and bring back workers who’ve been furloughed in the economic impact of COVID-19. Rick Adkins, deputy chief of staff for Rep. Duncan, told the chamber’s JoAnn Johnson that in the first round South Carolina was approved for 22,900 loans that averaged $166 thousand a business. The loans are low interest and cover eight weeks of an employer’s payroll.