Trump administration releases names of PPP borrowers, says program supported 51M jobs
More than $30 billion in aid was eventually returned by companies
The Trump administration on Monday disclosed the names of more than 658,000 small businesses that received taxpayer-funded loans through the $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program since its launch at the beginning of April.
The disclosures included the names of 658,277 borrowers that received forgivable loans worth more than $150,000, as well as addresses, NAICS codes, zip codes, business type, demographic data, nonprofit information and number of jobs supported.
The agency did not reveal precise dollar amounts of the loans and instead provided a range for each loan. The data shows the government issued $521 billion in loans, with an average loan size of $107,000. Combined, the aid program supported about 51 million jobs, or roughly 84 percent of all employees working at small businesses, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration said.
The agency did not reveal precise dollar amounts of the loans and instead provided a range for each loan. The ranges, and the number of businesses that received that size loan, are as follows:
AT LEAST 4 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS BENEFITED PERSONALLY FROM PPP LOANS
- Less than $50,000: More than 3.2 million businesses
- $100,000 to $150,000: 673,563 businesses
- $150,000 to $350,000: 376,113 businesses
- $350,000 to $1 million: 199,456 businesses
- $1 million to $2 million: 53,030 businesses
- $2 million to $5 million: 24,838 businesses
- $5 million to $10 million: 4,840 businesses
More than half of the money went to employers in five industries. The health care and social assistance industry received 12.9 percent of the money, while 12.7 percent went to professional and technical services; 12.4 percent went to construction; 10.3 percent went to manufacturing; and 8.1 percent went to restaurants, bars, hotels and other food- and hospitality-service employers.
At the onset, the program was heavily criticized for granting aid to publicly traded companies that had other avenues for relief -- even as small businesses languished. But the SBA and Treasury Department, which jointly administer the program, scrambled to close the loopholes that allowed multimillion-dollar companies to tap the fund, including pledging to audit any loan worth more than $2 million.
More than $30 billion of loans had been canceled, a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call. The loans will not be included in the data.
In the months since it first launched, it's been lauded as a success in helping businesses survive the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.
CONGRESS HAS FUNNELED TRILLIONS TO CORONAVIRUS RELIEF. WHERE IS THAT MONEY GOING?
“The PPP is an indisputable success for small businesses, especially to the communities in which these employers serve as the main job creators,” SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza said in a statement. “In three months, this Administration was able to act quickly to get funding into the hands of those who faced enormous obstacles as a result of the pandemic."
The decision to disclose loan recipients comes after weeks of negotiations, in which both Democrats and Republicans pushed for additional oversight.
The PPP, a rescue fund established by Congress with the passage of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act at the end of March, reopened to applicants on Monday after Congress voted to extend the aid program through the beginning of August.
Employers with fewer than 500 workers can receive loans of up to $10 million; if at least 60 percent of the money goes toward maintaining payroll, the federal government will forgive the loan in its entirety, essentially transforming the money into a grant. There's roughly $132 billion remaining in the fund.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE