![Trump signs coronavirus relief bill providing additional $484 billion for grants, loans, testing](https://www.jurist.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/04/President_Trump_Signs_the_Paycheck_Protection_Program_and_Health_Care_Enhancement_Act_49814689616.jpg)
President Trump signed a fourth coronavirus relief bill on Friday following its passage by the House of Representatives.
The bill, H.R. 266, The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, provides an additional $484 billion in emergency supplemental funding for programs aimed at buoying up businesses hit by the pandemic, as well as money for hospitals and testing measures. The bill passed with a nearly unanimous vote in both chambers of Congress, and was signed by President Trump, who hailed the measure as “Great for small businesses. Great for the workers.”
The bill provides $321 billion for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program, which is designed to provide money to small businesses to keep paying their workers during the COVID-19 shutdown. The program, created in March, was originally funded with $350 billion, but ran out of money as businesses flooded lenders with applications.
The legislation also provides $100 billion in funds for health care, $75 billion of which will go to hospitals and other health care providers to reimburse their expenses and lost revenues. There is also $25 billion set aside for the development, purchasing, administration, processing, and analysis of COVID-19 tests. Those funds will be split between federal and state governments, with $11 billion for the states.
This could be the last coronavirus relief legislation until May, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the Senate plans to “take a pause” in order to carefully consider any further funding, over worries that states are using money meant to deal with COVID-19 for other matters. The Senate meets again on May 4.