Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

Today at 1PM ET Treasury Secy @stevenmnuchin1 testifies before the @COVIDOversight Committee on the Trump administration's response to the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. I will have the report for @CourthouseNews.

The hearing will get underway soon.
You can catch a live-stream of Secy Mnuchin's testimony today courtesy of the @COVIDOversight Committee here:

And you can watch it on CSPAN here: c-span.org/video/?475203-…

.@WhipClyburn: The unemployment rate was 10.2% at end of July. That's higher than the worst month of the Great Recession and its aftermath.
As of Aug. 1.29M Americans were receiving or waiting for unemployment benefits. Claims are over 10x higher than the start of the year

Clyburn: Some jobs lost at the beginning of pandemic have returned & certain biz have reopened. That's a good thing. The admin claims this partial rebound means we are guaranteed a v-shaped recovery where we go back to full strength quickly but evidence doesn’t bear that out.

Clyburn:1M Americans file new unemp claims every wk, a clear sign the economy remains in serious trouble. Rather than a v-shaped recvry, economists warn we face uneven k-shape recovery where the wealthy quickly bounce back to prosperity while lower-income fams continue to suffer

.@COVIDOversight Cmte also released a staff analysis report today on the Paycheck Protection Program. Their report shows billions in PPP loans that may have been diverted to fraud, waste and abuse.
Report: documentcloud.org/documents/7071…

Clyburn: More than 10,000 loans were given to companies in violation of PPP terms. Thousands of loans were awarded to companies that were ineligible or had red flags indicating potential fraud.

Steve Mnuchin in his opening remarks notes that this is his fifth time appearing before Congress since the pandemic began and he has high confidence, celebrating "a 3 month gain of over 9 million jobs."
His full remarks:
documentcloud.org/documents/7071…

Clyburn in response to this confidence points to this graph below.
Since August 8, more than 2M American workers have filed NEW unemployment claims.
Clyburn to Munchin: Do these record-high unemployment #s indicate our economy is coming back extremely strong w/a fantastic Q3?

Mnuchin: We're in an unprecedented situation. There are 16M unemployed, down from 24M. People thought we would have 40M and we never had that. The economy is recovering very strongly but there are still areas of the economy, no fault to small businesses, that need more help.

Clyburn says we can quibble over numbers, but since August, there are still tens of millions of Americans out of work.

Expiration of enhanced unemployment insurance is something Mnuchin and POTUS are "concerned about," the Treasury secy says. "I believe Republicans and Democrats need to work together to see an additional support package put together."

Mnuchin continues: "The issue is not: 'what is the top line?' the issue is 'we need support quickly now.' If we need to do more, we can come back.

Mnuchin says there's $130B left in the Paycheck Protection Program. If Congress took up a stand alone bill to repurpose it and release it, it would pass w/overwhelming House/Senate report, the secy says.

With that money left over, Munchin says, he would suggest using it for businesses that have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, like, "travel, movies, hotels."

Mnuchin on Qs re: audits on PPP loans: Every loan that is $2M or greater will go through an individual audit. All of the rest, also subject to audit.

On accountability and uniformity of audits: Mnuchin says much of what the Covid oversight cmte found in its latest report (in this thread), the Small Biz Admin audits will confirm too

.@RepRaskin is up. He begins with remarks on the Postal Service. What changes is Trump seeking specifically relating to elections or Amazon?
Mnuchin, who chaired a postal task force, says he only made a rec to Postal Service to look at pkg pricing for e-commerce

But other than that, Trump has made no specific comments to him about Postal Service, Mnuchin says.

Raskin notes Mnuchin was the nat'l finance chairman of the Trump campaign & PMG DeJoy was RNC deputy finance chairman. Did Mnuchin consider DeJoy qualified?

Mnuchin: I first met DeJoy in 2016, haven't seen or spoken to him in the last year.

Mnuchin says he felt DeJoy was very qualified. Then he adds, he had no conversations with him about that job nor did he discuss his qualifications w/USPS Guvs Board

Mnuchin, again, emphasizes he never discussed PMG DeJoy's qualifications w/the USPS Governors Board.
Raskin notes, but you did take a meeting with the board when outgoing postmaster Brennan was leaving?
Raskin: You met with Republican postal guvs, yet no Dem postal guvs?

Mnuchin insists he's taken other meetings with Democratic officials and "as the nation's top creditor" he had a responsibility to meet with anyone, everyone in the loop on Postal Service thread

Raskin then notes how DeJoy seemed "almost reluctant" to take the job at his initial hearing, prompting Raskin to ask the secy for further insight. Now, Mnuchin said moments ago he felt DeJoy was qualified but now: "I was quite surprised" upon finding out DeJoy was a candidate.

Then Mnuchin says, "But DeJoy was approved on a bipartisan basis by the governors' board."

Raskin shoots back, "Yeah, and just one person resigned in protest."
[He refers to David Williams, the board vicechair who stepped down w/o explanation this Spring after DeJoy was tapped]

Rep Maxine Waters asks if Secy Mnuchin will take $2T compromise instead of Dem proposed (and passed) $3T Heroes Act or the GOP's skinny relief $1.1T bill.
Mnuchin says no, he won't, but urges Congress to pass stand-alone bill.

Mnuchin says Speaker Pelosi "won't sit at the negotiating table unless they publicly agree on a top line."

Mnuchin says he will meet with Speaker Pelosi at "any time without conditions" and says, to an approving laugh and "That's right" from Whip Clyburn: He'd leave this committee hearing right now if Pelosi wanted to do a deal without conditions.

On rental assistance: Mnuchin says after market closes today, specific guidelines coming that are "quite significant" re: allowing moratoriums on rent to continue "for ppl who certify they cannot make rent due to Covid-19"
He also vows not to take money from Section 8 for this

Mnuchin calls for adding $120B to the existing $130B PPP pool, "so we can help businesses who can't make rent or pay payroll due to Covid-19."

Rep. Bill Foster doesn't have much hope for these coming guidelines. The lost wage executive order from Trump was "weak" for Americans struggling with unemployment. It slashed benefits, not increased them. How is this actually working?

On Aug 10, Mnuchin said most states could execute that program within a week or two. But as of Friday, only 6 states have started paying out these reduced benefits. How many have actually received or are still waiting, Foster asks.

Mnuchin says he believes 26 states have signed up but he is unaware of how many states are actually paying but is willing to follow up with cmte.
"Our first choice was to have legislation but this was an area where there wasn't bipartisan legislation to move on".

Foster says Trump's order provided zero stability to workers because there's only a limited amount of funds to be drawn on now from FEMA. Only $40B sits in the FEMA till for this.

Foster asks about Trump's payroll tax holiday. Workers, as it stands, unless Senate passes something, will have to pay those funds back.
Trump will go to Congress to get authority but it's clear that this is a deferral, Mnuchin says. "It's money in people's pockets now."

"This is a deferral, so it will be paid back and if we pass legislation, this could come out of the general fund and it won't cost one penny out of the social security trust fund."

Raskin asks secy about whether he agrees that continued state/local budget cuts will exert a serious drag on natl economic recovery. Mnuchin argues this remains to be seen. DOL estimates 2.8M state emps could lose their job in next year. Over 1M jobs already lost in state/local

Raskin underlines the bipartisan call for more state/local funding by citing GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy who said: We should give states money. Without it, cities & states will have to lay off workers & may be unable to provide basic services to keep small/mid size businesses running.

30-40M Americans may be at risk of eviction in the next couple months, Rep. Andy Kim notes.
Senate proposed $3.3B in its Heals Act.
That's about $110 per person, Kim says, asking Mnuchin: what is the correct level to help w/rental assistance?

Secy Mnuchin says that that 30-40M at risk of eviction rate is "absurdly high, since there are only 40M rental units in the U.S."
Then he argues, as assistance goes, if you give someone $110, it might be sufficient to defray costs.

Clyburn in his close:The pandemic has exposed faults that need to be repaired, incl. significant inequities in access to economic opportunity. Today's hearing made clear that the fed govt's economic recovery efforts have failed to repair these faults & is at risk of getting worse

I'll have a full report up for you soon.