Chairman Clyburn Addresses Administration’s Unprecedented Refusal to Release PPP Loan Data

Washington, D.C. (June 12, 2020) -Today, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, issued the following statement in response to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's statement that he will not release names of PPP recipients or the amount of taxpayer-funded loans they received:

"Hiding recipients of federal funds is unacceptable and must end. American taxpayers deserve to know if their money is being used to help struggling small businesses, as Congress intended, or instead is being siphoned off through waste, fraud, and abuse. That is why the Select Subcommittee called for the return of PPP loans by large public companies that did not need the money to sustain operations—loan awards Secretary Mnuchin himself deemed ‘outrageous.' That effort has already returned $10 million to the Treasury. I intend to push vigorously for greater transparency from the Administration, and I hope my Republican colleagues will join me in this effort."

PPP loan applications make clear that "the names of the borrowers (and their officers, directors, stockholders or partners), the collateral pledged to secure the loan, the amount of the loan, its purpose in general terms and the maturity" are subject to the Freedom of Information Act and will be "automatically released."

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has released detailed loan information for loans issued under the 7(a) program, on which the Paycheck Protection Program is based, for more than 25 years.

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