The public is still in the dark on PPP stimulus loan recipients, Rubio promises 'disclosure'

The general public is still in the dark when it comes to the recipients of taxpayer-funded forgivable coronavirus stimulus loans issued to businesses and sole proprietors under the Paycheck Protection Program in the $2.2 trillion CARES Act.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a key architect of the program, has promised public disclosure of the loan recipients. His office did not respond on Wednesday when Just the News asked whether he is planning legislative action to force the public release of recipients, which the CARES Act did not require.

"We will have #PPP loan disclosure," Rubio wrote Tuesday on Twitter. "No dispute over larger loan recipients being disclosed. Only issue still being discussed with administration is how to treat smaller loans to mostly micro-business, sole proprietors & independent contractors."

He made the statement as the public learned that at least four House members were connected to PPP loans, either through family businesses or companies for which their spouses work, as reported by Politico. The revelations have put mounting pressure on the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration to disclose information about recipients.

The SBA loans are issued through about 5,100 private lenders under the $660 billion program, commonly referred to as PPP. Companies with under 500 employees were eligible to apply for the forgivable loans. A loophole in the law allowed larger companies to qualify for the loans if they had individual locations with less than 500 workers. The stimulus loans are forgivable if used for qualified expenses such as payroll and rent.

To date, certain companies have voluntarily disclosed the loans they received and some, such as Shake Shake and Ruth's Chris Steak House, have returned the loans. Some media outlets had disclosed that they received PPP loans. Axios, an online news outlet, later announced it would return the loan. 

In April, Rubio said that Congress would make the federal government disclose the loan recipients if the SBA or Treasury Department did not do so on their own.

"The bottom line is we're going to know one way or the other who got this money,” Rubio said during a virtual town hall. "Treasury, SBA is eventually going to have to release that. I always thought they were going to have to, and if they don't, we'll make them do it.”

Some Democrats have called for the public release of loan recipients in the absence of formal legislation requiring the disclosure. The SBA and Treasury Department did not return a request for comment about releasing the list of recipients.