Mnuchin suggests Treasury, SBA should forgo verifying how small business loans were spent

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested Friday that the government should consider forgiving all taxpayer-backed small loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program without verifying how the funds were used, a decision that could wipe away debt for millions of small businesses but would also substantially increase the risk of fraud.

The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration are grappling with how to handle millions of applications for loan forgiveness, a process that includes verifying that most of the funds were actually used to pay employees as required under the Cares Act. But Mnuchin seemed to suggest during a congressional hearing Friday that a case-by-case approval process should be waived entirely for loans below a certain threshold.

“One of the things we’ll talk about is should we just have forgiveness for all the small loans … I think that’s something we should consider,” Mnuchin said when asked by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) how the process might be simplified.

“We should obviously make sure there is some fraud protection,” Mnuchin added.

-snip-

By Aaron Gregg
7/17/2020, 1:17:32 p.m.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/17/congress-ppp-hearing-mnuchin/

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Oh really. Trying to protect some of your crony buddies eh, that took loans too (without...

verifying that in fact, the loans were used as they should be)? Sounds kind of corrupt, doesn't it?

[nakocal]

2. Steven Mnuchin is preparing a cover up

for the illegal loans that were made to the Trump family and their allies.

[cstanleytech]

8. Wonder if he has booked his overseas flight in advance for Jan. 20th 2021.

If not he really should consider doing so now as I suspect there will be number of other people fleeing the country to escape potential criminal charges as well.

[lettucebe]

3. When does it stop with these grifters? Seriously? This whole crime family must be stopped

[Frustratedlady]

4. It looks to me that some of these loans were given to businesses that had no business getting them.

Aren't some forgivable?

No, we've lost too much oversight with this group in the WH and, if nothing else, a sensible sampling should be done to ensure a good percentage of the loans were valid and handled legitimately. Too many chances for fraud.

I would take Katie Porter's opinion as more logical than Mnunchin's. It's like asking the fox to guard the chicken house.

[irisblue]

5. So that is why Rep Porter was after him.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213766716

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Any banker proposing this would be in jail for a long time

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Well, sure. It's like I told the IRS the other day: one number is as good as another, so why

go looking for trouble with all those schedules and forms and adding and subtracting and numbers and whatnot?

What's wrong with rounding down to the nearest $10,000?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

9. You can't spell corruption without "Mnuchin."

[JDC]

10. "Grifter Hides Graft" Should be the headline

[Jopin Klobe]

11. Remember when we were told ...

.. that forgiving underwater loans created by the 2008 Wall Street robbery would be a MORAL HAZARD!!!! ... ? ...

... well, I guess if one has no morals to begin with ...

... then there ain't no hazard ...