Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) – The House subcommittee investigating billions of dollars in coronavirus aid is demanding that the Trump administration and several large banks turn over detailed information about who applied and received federal loans.
The requests come after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Congress last week that the names of loan recipients and the amounts disbursed as part of the $600 billion-plus Paycheck Protection Program are “proprietary information” and do not have to be made public. According to Mnuchin, “Recipients of $511 billion in coronavirus loans are “confidential.”
Democrats say, “There is nothing proprietary or confidential about businesses receiving millions of taxpayer dollars.”
Congressional oversight provisions were written into the Cares Act.
In reaction former presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted:
Let’s be clear: Secretary Mnuchin is part of the most corrupt administration in history riddled with conflicts, cronyism, & incompetence. It’s absurd that he believes he should hand out more than $500 billion of taxpayers funds in secret.”
Democrats on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis urged more transparency so taxpayers can “understand whether federal funds are helping vulnerable businesses and saving jobs.”
The letters ask the banks, Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration for a complete list of applicants for loans, whether they were approved and details on the guidance Treasury has issued. The subcommittee is also asking for communications between the government and the banks.
A Twitter user seemingly supports the businesses that got the loans:
The ones propagated by Mnuchin are logical. I don’t necessary agree with his course of action. But I deal daily with businesses that received these loans and a searchable database with proprietary information could be a significant privacy issue for them.
— JRP (@JRPSD) June 12, 2020
