Lawmakers get impatient with transparency of the Paycheck Protection Program

Lawmakers are growing more impatient about transparency and the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced legislation to mandate that the agency release more data about PPP and do it more often. 

“Our bill is very simple,” he said on the Senate floor, adding that, so far, “the proverbial small restaurant owner, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, they’ve been left out to a large degree” from getting loans.

Republicans have a different take on the success of the program but are also speaking out on transparency. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the chairman of the committee that oversees the SBA, posted a scathing video on Saturday when he couldn’t get top-line answers about the program.

The “SBA is refusing to answer” about who is getting the money, Rubio said, also claiming the agency was “hoarding” information. “This is completely unacceptable,” he said.

On Sunday, after Rubio’s video was posted, the SBA did release information that showed 2.2 million loans had been processed in the second round of funding. Over $175 billion had been approved, representing over half of the $310 billion in funding. Rubio then made another video saying “we finally saw some data,” and touted the “very good news” in the numbers.

An SBA spokesperson contacted by Yahoo Finance did not offer comment on Schumer’s bill or the SBA’s plans for releasing additional data. 

‘We’re gonna get on it’

Rubio has promised “to conduct oversight” of the program, saying “we’re gonna get on it.” A Rubio spokesperson stressed that oversight would look at both the SBA’s work and the banks that administer the loans.

The question is how far Congress is willing to go to demand transparency, especially if the program needs more funding as many expect it soon will.

Schumer’s bill, introduced with Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, would mandate daily and weekly reports from the PPP and other relief programs.

It would also require “the name of the entities and the loans or grant amounts,” which is not currently available. 

On Tuesday, Rubio said he wasn’t supporting Schumer’s bill immediately but noted, “I am all for transparency.” The Florida senator says he wants to balance getting regular reports to the public and putting “onerous requirements on the SBA staff,” which could slow down loans getting out the door.

The SBA regularly releases some data about money given out by the PPP. A recent release, including loans through May 1, broke down the program by such factors as lender size, states, and loan size.

The name of every business that has received a loan has not been released. It’s led to criticism around the country as larger, publicly traded companies like Shake Shake (SHAK) and Ashford (AINC) secure PPP loans – and then bow to public pressure to return the money.

Allied Progress, a left-leaning nonprofit consumer advocacy group, launched a site to list public companies that have received PPP loans using public filings and news reports.

Neil Barofsky, the former inspector general for TARP in 2008, told Yahoo Finance it was “pretty unbelievable that the government has not committed to making all the recipients transparent.” He then predicted that eventually they would relent: “they almost have to.”

Geographic data

More specific geographic data is another key ask among Democrats, to see what neighborhoods and cities are getting the money.

A spokesperson for Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who heads the House Small Business committee, said the Velázquez “has repeatedly stressed the need for data surrounding the demographic and geographical dispersal of the loans and will continue to use her Congressional authority to conduct vigorous oversight.”

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