WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is refusing to disclose what businesses received coronavirus aid, insisting on secrecy for a $600 billion-plus loan program funded by taxpayers.
Mnuchin claims the information is confidential, but ethics advocates and some lawmakers see the move as an attempt to dodge accountability for how the money is spent.
Mnuchin told Congress at a hearing this week that the names of loan recipients and the amounts are “proprietary information.”
The need for a full public accounting of the Paycheck Protection Program, which is managed by the Small Business Administration, is amplified by controversy over how it has unfolded since early April.
