Recipients of majority of stimulus loans issued still haven't been released by the government

The federal government has not disclosed most of the forgivable coronavirus-stimulus loans issued to businesses under the $660 billion federal Paycheck Protection Program.

The Small Business Administration has publicly released lists of the forgivable loans under $150,000 issued in each state but it did not include the names of the recipients.

Loans under $150,000 make up the bulk of the loans issued. According to SBA data through June 30, 2020, loans under $50,000 represented 66.8% of all loans provided, $50,000 to $100,000 represented 13.8% and $100,000-$150,000 represented 6%. 

The state-by-state lists the SBA released included only the names of the lenders, including banks and credit unions, that approved the loans as well as the estimated number of jobs the loan will help retain. To date, banks have earned billions in taxpayer-funded fees for issuing the loans as part of PPP, which was setup by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act. The SBA hasn't said whether individual bank branches directly received forgivable PPP loans.

As Just the News previously reported, the federal government isn't going to conduct a review of most taxpayer-funded forgivable loans issued under the program. 

According to the SBA, the loan is forgivable if "at least 60 percent" of it is used toward payroll. The rest can be used for qualified expenses such as rent and utilities. 

The SBA declined to comment when asked on Tuesday if it plans to disclose the recipients of the loans under $150,000 but the agency shared a press release announcing that the agency would disclose a list of more than 40,000 businesses that received forgivable loans between $150,000 and $10 million. The agency estimated that most of the loan dollars approved fall into those categories.  

The document released does not contain the exact amount of each loan but it shows the name of the company and the estimated number of jobs it retained with the taxpayer-funded loan.

For loans below $150,000, the total of the loan was released, "aggregated by zip code, by industry, by business type, and by various demographic categories."

The SBA did not provide a list of the exact amount of each loan issued to recipients above $150,000 and declined to say whether one will be released.