Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slammed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday for indicating the Trump administration may not disclose the names of those who received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.
"Given the many problems with the PPP program, it is imperative American taxpayers know if the money is going where Congress intended — to the truly small and unbanked small business," said Schumer, a Democrat from New York.
"The administration's resistance to transparency is outrageous and only serves to raise further suspicions about how the funds are being distributed and who is actually benefiting."
Mnuchin, in testimony before the Senate Small Business Committee earlier this week, implied that the administration may not be disclosing the names of those who applied to the program, and the amount they requested.
"As it relates to the names and amounts of specific PPP loans, we believe that that's proprietary information," he said. "And in many cases for sole proprietors and small businesses, is confidential information."
The Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
While the PPP is aimed at helping small businesses, more than 245 public companies applied for at least $905 million from the program, CNBC reported. Many companies later refunded those loans after public criticism.
Disclosure around the funds aimed at coronavirus relief has been a touchstone for Democrats since they began negotiating the more than $2 trillion CARES act aimed at helping businesses, states and individuals reeling from the pandemic.
President Donald Trump has pushed back against the authority of the inspector general supervising a $500 billion fund the Treasury oversees aimed at helping larger businesses, sparking similar outcry from Democrats.