The federal Payroll Protection Program is seeing a decrease in the amount of money being lent to small businesses financially struggling because of COVID-19, while loans awarded increased, according to the U.S. Treasury Department and multiple reports. 

Part of the decline is tied to some publically-traded companies returning approximately $500 million in loans, the Journal Gazette reported on May 21. The U.S. Treasury Department released data recently, which showed the number of loans issued is increasing while the amount of an individual loan is decreasing. 

The trend is also happening in the Indiana business community. According to the Journal Gazette, the financial amount of loans declined from $9.66 billion to $9.44 billion with 71,614 loans awarded. 

The payroll protection's website reported that cancellations of “duplicative loans, loans not closed for any reason and loans that have been paid off.” But in April, the program's funds were quickly depleted, which caused businesses to seek funds through other programs, according to the Journal Gazette. 

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Indiana) told the Journal Gazette that the payroll program is seeing a different dynamic because it wasn't operating the way it should have been.

“I all along wanted to make sure that the smallest businesses first would get served. That didn't happen in the first round. That's why you're seeing a different dynamic now,” Braun told the Journal Gazette.