I think an angle missed here is that the government is trying to fend off deflation through fiscal stimulus. Individuals and small businesses have a propensity to spend, which gives forward pressure to what was then a rapidly declining velocity of money. The Fed's ability to act unilaterally is more limited, being executed through bond buying programs.

This money needed to be added to the economy, and really still does. I think PPP was one such reasonable approach (though much more is needed to save small/medium businesses).