By Christopher Rugaber and Joyce M. Rosenberg, The Associated PressThe Treasury Department on Monday released the names of more than 650, 000 small businesses that received funds from a government program intended to support the economy as states shut down in April to contain the viral outbreak. Treasury identified just a fraction of the total borrowers, naming only those companies that got more than $150, 000. Those firms made up less than 15% of the nearly 5 million small companies that received loans. The average loan amount for the entire program was $107, 000, the Treasury Department said in a broad summary of the program. The government handed out $521 billion through the Paycheck Protection Program, a crucial piece of the government’s $2 trillion rescue package. The loans can be forgiven if the businesses mostly use the money to continue paying their workers. The program initially was set to expire June 30 but was extended last week to Aug. 8. The recipients employed 51 million people before the pandemic began, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, or about 85% of all workers at companies with fewer than 500 employees. Not all of those jobs were saved. The government won’t know how many were until companies apply to have the loans forgiven, a process that is just beginning. The public may never know the identity of more than 80% of the nearly 5 million beneficiaries to date because the administration has refused to release details on loans under $150, 000. That secrecy spurred a lawsuit by news organizations including The Associated Press. Treasury has released only dollar ranges for the loan amounts, rather than exact figures. Businesses owned by several politicians were listed among the recipients, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican. DeWine Seeds-Silver Dollar Baseball received a loan in a range of $150, 000 to $350, 000, the government said. The company owns the Asheville Tourists, a minor league baseball team in North Carolina, which was purchased by the governor’s family in 2010. DeWine’s son, Brian DeWine, currently serves as president of the baseball team. Robin J. Vos Enterprises, a popcorn manufacturing company run by Wisconsin GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, received between $150, 000 and $350, 000. Vos’ spokeswoman, Kit Beyer, didn’t immediately respond to a message inquiring about why the company was seeking the money and how it’s been used. And Waterville Valley Holdings, an investment group led by the family of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, got a loan of between $350, 000 and $1 million. The company is the principal investor in the Waterville Valley Resort, a ski area where Sununu, a Republican, served as CEO until just before he took office in 2017. The data gave few details about loans to minority-owned businesses. Companies were not required to supply demographic data on their applications, and many entries about race and gender contained “unanswered.
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Article Link: https://www.dailynews.com/2020/07/06/...
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