Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. | Scott Heins/Getty Images
Senate Democrats on Friday called on the Trump administration to release a fuller picture of where billions of dollars in emergency small business loans have landed, as Congress remains deadlocked over funding the economic rescue effort.
In a letter to the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked for data on the $350 billion Paycheck Protection Program. They’re also seeking, numbers for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Emergency Grants Program, another troubled SBA facility intended to rush aid to small businesses hit by disasters.
Among their questions, they asked for a breakdown of Paycheck Protection Program loans disbursed by demographics. They also asked for the volume of loans disbursed to large restaurant chain operators that can receive loans even if they exceed the program’s 500-employee limit. Shake Shack said Friday that it received a $10 million Paycheck Protection Program loan through JPMorgan Chase, even as the burger chain announced plans to raise $75 million in the stock market.
“As Congress works to provide critical funding for these programs, we write to ask that you provide additional data and information about how loans and grants have been distributed,” the senators said.
The SBA and Treasury did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Congress and the Federal Reserve are pouring trillions of dollars into the economy in an unprecedented effort to stave off massive layoffs and a potentially deep recession stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. That has sparked concern among some lawmakers and advocacy groups that there aren’t enough controls or oversight of the money.
The SBA has published a new breakdown of Paycheck Protection Program loans approved as of Thursday, when funding ran out and loan approvals came to a halt. The program launched on April 3.
According to the SBA, nearly 1.7 million loans were approved for an average of $206,000. The construction industry was the top recipient of money from the program.
About 4 percent of the approved loans were for $1 million or more. Those loans in total — about $152.4 billion — represented 44.5 percent of all the money approved under the program.
For the first time, the SBA released figures for 15 of the program’s top lenders, though it did not identify the banks. The unnamed lender with the highest volume approved 27,307 loans for a total of $14 billion.
JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., claimed Friday that it was the most prolific Paycheck Protection Program lender so far. The bank said it funded around $14 billion in loans to businesses that employ more than 1.1 million people. It has about $4.5 billion in applications fully processed and ready to be submitted to the SBA as well as an additional $20 billion in applications that it’s working through.
“Chase has secured more funding for small businesses than anyone else in the industry, and we’re fully prepared to help many, many more once additional funding is approved,” a JPMorgan spokesperson said.
Schumer, Senate Democrats demand small business loan data
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