On MSNBC Friday, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) elaborated on her previous remark that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin "gets an F" for his explanation of why the administration is blocking congressionally required disclosure of information on coronavirus stimulus funds.
"So I guess the argument, as I understand it and I will make to you and you can tell me why it gets an f, if you talk about, say, like a car-washing place in Irvine, California, where you are, or a cafe, if you knew what the loan was, you would essentially know what their overhead is, what their rent and their payroll roughly is, and that would, I don't know, help you competitively some way if you want to buy out the car wash, I guess?" said host Chris Hayes. "Is that the argument? As I try to make it, I'm stumbling, but I think that's the argument."
"Yeah, you sound like one of my students who's struggling his way towards an F," said Porter. "No, at least five reasons why the argument the secretary made is incorrect."
"First, the traditional SBA loan already have to be disclosed," said Porter. "Two, the PPP application itself, the application small business owners filled out, clearly stated that it would be disclosed, the amount of the loan, terms of the loans, all of these things. Borrowers here have no expectation of privacy. Third, the size of the PPP program is unprecedented. This is a tremendous amount of expenditure. This is the largest small business loan in our government's history. Fourth, there are already numerous examples of abuse of the PPP program. We saw it with requests from Ruth's Chris [Steakhouse] and others. Then, the PPP limitation has been plagued by inequities. Different states not given the same amount of resources, minority-owned businesses, smallest, most vulnerable businesses not getting help."
"This is why — these five reasons debunk the Secretary of the Treasury's argument, and why Senator Kamala Harris and I are calling on the Treasury to disclose this information," said Porter.
Watch below:
