https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/06/828462517/another-break-from-the-past-government-will-help-churches-pay-pastor-salaries
A key part of the $2 trillion economic relief legislation enacted last month includes about $350 billion for the Small Business Administration to extend loans to small businesses facing financial difficulties as a result of the coronavirus shutdown orders.
Churches and other faith-based organizations, classified as "businesses," qualify for aid under the program, even if they have an exclusively religious orientation.
"Faith-based organizations are eligible to receive SBA loans regardless of whether they provide secular social services," the SBA said in a statement. "No otherwise eligible organization will be disqualified from receiving a loan because of the religious nature, religious identity, or religious speech of the organization."
Churches have been especially hard hit by shutdown orders, because many of them rely on weekly offerings that are no longer being collected.
"There is a portion of that revenue that just by virtue of people's habits and practices doesn't come back," Vice President Pence reportedly said in a recent conference call with U.S. pastors. In introducing the new SBA program, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Pence and President Trump "made sure" that churches would be included in the program.
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