Congress couldn’t come to an agreement on Thursday, April 9 to replenish the forgivable small-business relief loans established under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. The Senate shot down competing proposals for an interim emergency aid package Thursday morning.

Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin had asked Congress to approve $250 billion more for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which launched last week. Democrats were seeking more transparency in the program and also proposed rolling into the package $150 billion to help cities and states and $100 billion for hospitals.

The $349 billion PPP is being administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), though the loans are granted via individual lenders. Small businesses can apply for up to $10 million in forgivable funding that can be used to pay for things like payroll, utilities and rent. As of April 9, the program had already committed $100 billion, and more than 400,000 companies had filed applications, according to the Washington Post. The program had gotten off to a bumpy start, but officials say many of the kinks are being worked out this week. For instance, Reuters reported on April 8 that hundreds of new lenders that never previously worked with the SBA now had access to the loan program via a new online portal.

#PPP UPDATE:
Real daily progress on the issues raised by lenders:

Need promissory note & closing documents: ✔️

More capacity in SBA portal: ✔️

New portal for non-SBA lenders: ✔️

Lift cap on @WellsFargo: ✔️

Legal immunity: ✔️

Ability to sell #PPPloans: expect ✔️ today

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 9, 2020

Though Congress couldn’t reach an agreement Thursday morning, behind-the-scenes discussions were ongoing between Democrats and Mnuchin, according to The Hill.

Also on Thursday, April 9, the Treasury announced some new and expanded lending programs to help businesses suffering from economic shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. These programs will provide up to $2.3 trillion in financing to small and medium-sized businesses, according to a press release from the Treasury Department. The Treasury made a $75 billion equity investment to establish the Main Street Business Lending Program, which will enable up to $600 billion in new financing for businesses with up to 10,000 employees or $2.5 billion in 2019 annual revenues.

The new program will complement the PPP and other programs already established under the CARES Act, according to Mnuchin. “The Main Street Business Lending Program will make a significant difference for the 40,000 medium-sized businesses that employ 35 million Americans,” he said in the release.

In addition, the Treasury will make a $35 billion equity investment in the Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF), which will provide up to $500 billion in direct financing to states, counties and cities to help ensure they have the funds necessary to respond to the pandemic and provide essential services to citizens. The Treasury also made equity investments into other financial vehicles that will be used to do things like purchase eligible corporate debt. “The combination of these facilities,” Mnuchin said, “will provide up to $2.3 trillion in new financing to support American workers by helping American businesses preserve jobs, sustain operations and continue to serve their customers.”