BOISE, Idaho — Congress passed a roughly $480 billion relief package Thursday to help small businesses and hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Newsy.
It puts more money into the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program, which quickly ran out of money last week.
Idaho News 6 spoke to U.S. Senator Jim Risch, R-Idaho, about Congress' passage of the deal.
“The purpose of this is is to get more money out there, so that those [small business owners] that, maybe their applications were approved, but the door closed just before they got in -- that it will help those people get funded," said Risch.
The deal now heads to the president's desk for approval.
"As quickly as they get it back up and running -- and I suspect that’s going to be a matter of a very few days," said Risch.
The deal also earmarks $75 billion for hospitals, and allocates $25 billion to expand testing across the country, according to Newsy.
