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The federal government has distributed more than half of the $410 billion in stimulus payments to individuals approved in the pandemic-relief bill signed by President Joe Biden this month, in a cash injection set to boost the U.S. economy, Bloomberg News reported. The $242 billion disbursed so far have gone to approximately 90 million households, according to a statement from the Treasury Department on Wednesday. The first payments were mostly sent by direct deposit, which some started receiving this past weekend, the Treasury said. The $1,400-per-person payments, which most Americans qualified for, are arriving amid a widening reopening of businesses across the country as vaccinations rise and coronavirus infections slow. The Treasury said that payments appeared for some people starting last Friday, but with the official payment date set at March 17, the funds might not have been accessible up to that day. The average payment so far is $2,689, the Treasury data indicate. Individuals earning up to $75,000 or couples making less than $150,000 qualify for $1,400 payments for themselves and each adult or child dependent. The payments phase out as income rises, with singles making $80,000 or couples earning $160,000 not qualifying for any aid.

The Senate voted 81-17 on Tuesday to confirm Isabel Guzman, President Joe Biden's nominee to lead the Small Business Administration, Roll Call reported. As SBA administrator, Guzman will oversee the remaining disbursements from the Paycheck Protection Program, a forgivable loan program that was a lifeline to small businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Guzman won support from both Democrats and Republicans throughout the confirmation process, as well as the endorsement of small business groups. The confirmation marks a return to the SBA for Guzman, who was deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet during the Obama administration. Guzman most recently worked as director of California's Office of the Small Business Advocate, where she oversaw the state's $500 million grant program during the pandemic. Guzman will take over supervision of the Paycheck Protection Program, which has kept small businesses afloat, but has faced criticism about accessibility, especially for smaller and minority-owned businesses.

The U.S. House approved a two-month extension of a popular U.S. small-business rescue program that still has almost $93 billion left to distribute, giving companies until the end of May to apply for the forgivable loans, Bloomberg News reported. The Paycheck Protection Program was initially set up a year ago as lockdowns stemming from the coronavirus paralyzed the American economy. Lawmakers expanded and extended it as the COVID-19 crisis continued. The House voted 415-3 on a bill extending the PPP for two months from its current expiration date of March 31. The Senate is expected to also approve it, with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer saying Tuesday Democrats “want it to pass as quickly as possible.” The Small Business Administration had approved nearly 7.6 million loans worth more than $687 billion as of March 7. About $92.5 billion remains to be lent. Firms can apply for PPP loans that can convert into grants if the owners spend the money on approved costs, such as worker salaries. Business groups and lenders had urged Congress to extend the deadline to give small businesses more time to apply for the money. Senate Small Business Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said that the chamber would try to advance the extension bill with a fast-tracked procedure used for bipartisan, agreed-upon legislation, by seeking unanimous consent.

Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are postponing planned credit-card fee increases that were set to kick in this year after the plans drew criticism from lawmakers. Citing the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic on businesses, Visa and Mastercard said they will hold off on increasing interchange fees for merchants until next April, the Wall Street Journal reported. Visa and Mastercard plans included raising interchange fees for many online purchases by around 0.05 to 0.10 of a percentage point, according to a document reviewed by the Journal. Those changes would have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional interchange fee charges for merchants within the span of a year, according to estimates from CMSPI, a merchants’ payments consulting firm. The planned fee increases prompted Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) to send a letter this month to the chief executive officers of Visa and Mastercard calling on the companies to refrain from moving forward with the increases, citing the pandemic’s effect on businesses.

Government relief programs and lenders’ forbearance have kept U.S. small businesses from defaulting on their debt en masse as revenue slumped during the pandemic crisis, according to a new analysis provided to Bloomberg News. Among small firms nationwide, 18.3% of business payments were past due in January, a modest increase from 17.7% in February 2020, the Urban Institute said in a report using Dun & Bradstreet data. Somewhat more affected were two big cities on the coasts, New York and San Francisco, which saw increases of 2.5 and 4.3 percentage points, respectively. For now, businesses are sitting on enough cash to pay their bills. Cash balances were up as much as 41% at their peak in late August, as the federal Paycheck Protection Program pumped out forgivable loans to keep small firms afloat. Those balances were still up by 35% through late September, according to data from the JPMorgan Chase Institute. Meantime, business owners have cut their expenses, often by slashing payrolls, and many lenders and landlords have been lenient with rent and other bills. Despite the relatively strong credit metrics, the future remains uncertain for a sector that employed almost half the country’s private workforce and was a growth engine of the economy before Covid-19 hit. “Shrinking payroll, reducing physical space, and other accommodations are painful for small businesses and may constrain their ability to grow,” the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group, said in its report. “It’s also unclear what will happen when creditors cease to offer flexibility for businesses on repayment of their built-up amounts owed.”