Trump Administration Under Fire For Refusing To Reveal Companies Receiving Coronavirus Relief Funds; Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) Discusses Her Demand For Trump Administration To Reveal Companies Getting PPP Loans
KEILAR: The Trump administration is under fire for refusing to reveal the names of companies on the receiving end of billions of your dollars in coronavirus relief funds. Millions of businesses were recently given loans as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. Back in March, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin promised -- this is his, quote -- "full transparency," end quote, about who was receiving those emergency PPP loans. Well, now Mnuchin and the Trump administration are completely breaking that promise. The administration now argues that the identity of those companies is, quote, "confidential." Steve Mnuchin, the same person who promised transparency, and he said that the loan amounts are quote, "proprietary information."</s>STEVE MNUCHIN, TREASURY SECRETARY: In so far as naming each and every company, I don't think that promise was ever made. And I don't think it's necessary.</s>KEILAR: Congresswoman Katie Porter is a Democratic representative from California. She's joining us now. She serves on the Financial Services and Oversight and Reform Committees. Thank you for being here.</s>REP. KATIE PORTER (D-CA): Absolutely.</s>KEILAR: So you are we should also mention a law professor. You disagree with Steve Mnuchin. You co-wrote a letter with Senator Kamala Harris demanding transparency and you also gave the treasury secretary's legal argument an "F." So on the legal argument part of this, explain why you give it an "</s>F." PORTER: Well, because he doesn't have any legal argument. This isn't something where we can see some interpret this way or that. He's making an assertion that this information is somehow confidential or proprietary. And hasn't offered anything to back him up. In fact, every point of law we would look at points the other direction. So, the Paycheck Protection Program is a $650 billion program. The applications that borrowers fill out implicitly tells them this information may be disclosed. So there's no argument that it's confidential. In fact, to the contrary, he told borrowers they may have to give the information up. And regular ABA loans have to be disclosed. So that argument that now that we an even larger program and a more powerful program, the Paycheck Protection Program, it's all the more important to have that transparency and that disclosure. And the treasury secretary had been ignoring and refusing to respond to FOIA requests from those trying to understand were our taxpayer dollars have been used wisely.</s>KEILAR: Yes. And the application says the identity of the recipient and the loan amount are basically FOIA-able, subject to the Freedom of Information Act. When you look at this, what is your fear about why the administration has broken its promise on transparency and is saying we're going to keep this secret?</s>PORTER: So, one possibility is there's a lot of abuse, a lot of things they don't want the American public to know. We saw some of the abuses of the Paycheck Protection Program, Steak Shack, Barratone (ph). But that's because they were public companies. I would suspect if the secretary of treasury doesn't want this information public, it's because he thinks the public may be outraged with what they see. But this is our tax dollars being spent in this program. It's not Secretary Mnuchin's personal war chest. It's our tax dollars. And we, in Congress, can't evaluate if the program is working or not without this data.</s>KEILAR: So, we've learned now that Secretary Mnuchin could be open to striking an agreement on greater transparency for the Small Business program. I wonder what kind of deal would you be open to, short of all these names and they got this amount each?</s>PORTER: I've written -- in that letter I wrote with Senator Harris, we called for getting this information out. But also I have a bill, the Paycheck Protection Program Transparency Act, that would require the disclosure. And it's clear what they have to provide and don't have to provide. And I think that bill lays out what we need to get Secretary Mnuchin to agree to in this negotiation. Frankly, we have the upper hand here. The law is on our side. And the will of the American people, across the ideological spectrum, is on our side. They want oversight and they want transparency.</s>KEILAR: Congresswoman, thank you. Congresswoman Katie Porter, we appreciate you joining us.</s>PORTER: Thank you.</s>KEILAR: The man in this powerful image here, seen carrying an injured white protester to safety at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in London, will join me next.