Treasury Department and SBA reverse course, opt to disclose loan data of most PPP recipients

The Small Business Administration and Treasury Department will disclose information of which businesses applied for and received taxpayer dollars as part of the Paycheck Protection Program, after saying they would not reveal the names of those that received funds from the trillion-dollar federal stimulus package. 

Only the names of companies that received $150,000 or more will be revealed. 

The agencies made the announcement Friday, after news reports that at least four members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, were tied to businesses that received government loans as a part of the CARES Act. 

The loans were intended to help smaller businesses weather the economic shutdown created by the coronavirus shutdown. However, large companies also received them – including Shake Shack and Ruth's Chris Steak House.

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, had been pushing for PPP disclosure for a number of weeks.

"The bottom line is, we're going to know one way or the other who got this money," he said during a virtual town hall last week.

Representatives from both parties were locked in negotiations for a number of weeks over the question of more PPP transparency. 

"I am pleased that we have been able to reach a bipartisan agreement on disclosure which will strike the appropriate balance of providing public transparency, while protecting the payroll and person income information of small businesses, sole proprietors, and independent contractors," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.