Small business owners across the country, and the Hudson Valley, can start applying for the second round of federal aid today.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has resumed accepting applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, later this morning.

The PPP program is aimed at helping small business and nonprofit employers with fewer than 500 workers.

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The loan is meant to keep workers of small businesses on the payroll and it will be forgiven if employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.

The initial $349 billion in funding appropriated by Congress in the first round ran out of money after just 13 days, and the SBA had to stop accepting loan applications.

But Friday, President Donald Trump signed a new coronavirus financial relief package with $319 billion earmarked for the PPP with $60 billion designated for small lenders and community banks. "I hope they bring a little more saneness to the system than last time. The last time a lot of the big companies scooped up major portions of the money and the little guys didn't get it," says News 12 financial analyst Marty Cantor. 

Those larger businesses that initially received loan money through the PPP were highly criticized, and some have returned the funds, like restaurant chain Shake Shack who returned $10 million.

Koshy Chacko has owned the Fair Deal Cafe in White Plains for 40 years.  And while he has remained open, he's struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic. "I'm doing 40% of what I normally did before, so I cannot pay my bill with 40% business."

Chacko says he's hoping his application will get through after getting squeezed out on the last round since, this time, the focus will be on small businesses. "They are the backbone of this country, and if they are neglected, they'll be no more Main Street."