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Welcome, everybody. Today, i will our select subcommittee is focusing on hearing were some members will appear in person and others may appear remotely via webex. Since members are appearing in person, let me first remind everyone that pursuant to the latest guidance, all individuals attending this hearing in person must wear a Face Covering. Guids attending this hearing in person must wear a Face Covering. Wearing a Face Covering are not permitted to remain in the hearing room and will not be recognized to speak. Let me also make a few reminders about hybrid hearings. For those appearing in person who will be able to see members appear remotely on the two monitors in front of you. On one monitor, you will see all the members appearing remotely in once, in what is known webex as view mode. On the other monitor, you will see each person when they are speaking, including other members appearing remotely. You can also see each other, each person speaking, during the hearing, whether they are in personal remote, if you have your webex set to active speaker mode. If you have any questions about this, please, Contact Committee staff immediately. Let me also remind everyone the house procedures apply to hybrid hearings. Person,ers appearing in a timer is visible in the room directly in front of you. Youthose all may be remote, have a timer that should be visible on your screen when you mode, andive speaker you have the timer. For members appearing remotely, the house rules require that we see you. So please have your cameras turned on at all times, not just when youre speaking. Members who were not recognize will remain muted it minimize background noise to minimize background noise and feedback. Members will be recognized in Security Order for questions. If you are remote and want to be recognized outside of regular order, you may identify that in several ways. You may use the chat function to send the request. You may send an email to the majority staff. Unmute your mike to seek recognition year recognition. Eek thatttee staff will ensure i am made aware of the request and i will recognize you. We will begin the hearing in just a moment, when they tell me they are ready to begin the live stream. Good afternoon. The committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess of the committee at any time. Myself for mye opening statement. Today, this subcommittee welcomes secretary of the treasury, steven mnuchin. Secretarye first time mnuchin has testified before the subcommittee. I thank him for his appearance here today. On july 29, the Federal Reserve the path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of a virus. Jerome powell, appointed by president trump, and this point, is so fundamental, i think we cant say it enough. Tragically, seven months since the first case was discovered on our shores, the course of this coronavirus continues to be devastating. Nearly 6 million americans have tested positive for more than 182,000 and more than 180,000 americans have died. For more than any other nation on earth. This summer, while most of the countries were successfully containing the virus, the u. S. Saw a surge in cases and deaths. And, we know why. Instead of leading with a national strategy, the white house pushed states to reopen without a plan to keep people safe. Instead of communicating sciencebased Public Health guidance, the president claimed the virus would just disappear, i hope. The statements are costing hundreds of americans lives everyday. Federal reserve described it, the crisis is also causedd an unprecedented economic crisis with families struggling to feed their families and pay housing costs. The most recent data showed that theyment rate Unemployment Rate was 10. 2 at the end of july, higher than the worst month of the Great Recession and its aftermath. As of august 1, 29 million americans were receiving or waiting for an employment benefits. Unemployment claims are more than 10 times higher than they were at the beginning of the year and show little sign of returning to normal levels anytime soon. Jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic have returned as certain businesses have real opened. That is a good thing. The administration has cla imed we are guaranteed a vshaped economic recovery where the economy returns to full strength quickly. But the evidence does not show that. We continued to see roughly one million americans file employment claims every week. File new unemployment claims every week. The economy remains in serious trouble. Vshaped recovery, warnedonomists have we face an uneven recovery. The rich return to prosperity while the lowerclass families continue to suffer harm. Janet yellen testified before the subcommittee. Quoting from the written lower paid workers, women and minorities, are represented in the most effective sectors, and thus, borne the disproportionate share of losses. Todays hearing is a call to action. The most important step we can take to fix the economy in the long term is to get the pandemic under control. But American Families are hurting now. And there are urgent steps the Administration Must take to prevent our nations economic crisis from becoming a catastrophe. Additional fiscal stimulus is urgently needed. Things in the cares act have expired. Millions of americans now are now facing eviction, debt, and hunger. States, cities, and businesses warn more layoffs may be coming. More than three months ago, House Democrats past a comprehensive bill passed a comprehensive bill to address these problems. The heroes act would extend 600 weekly Unemployment Benefits, help families with house and food assistance, and support states and local governments and the millions of essential workers they employ. Republicans rejected the bill. When the house offered to meet them in the middle with a compromise proposal, republicans rejected that, too. Instead, the president offered a fake solution, executive orders that give the appearance of action, but were clearly insufficient to address the economic peril americans face. I hope younuchin, will return to the negotiating table prepared to find common meetson legislation that the present needs of americas families and communities that are hurting from this crisis. The Treasury Department must improve its implementation byrelief programs passed congress. So far, the administration has prioritized big businesses over Small Businesses and the American Workers that congress intended to protect. The Administration Needs to the Paycheck Protection Program, payroll support for the airline industry, and other relief programs to ensure they are preserving jobs, not lining their pockets the pockets of wealthy executives. Third, the treasury must improve oversight and accountability to ensure taxpayers dollars or not squandered. Today, this committee is releasing a staff report raising serious concerns about potential thee, fraud, and abuse in Paycheck Protection Program based on and analysis of the treasury data. The subcommittee identified more oans to companies that received multiple ppp loans, in violation of the programs terms. Thousands of other loans were awarded to companies that were ineligible for the program or had red flags of potential fraud. Secretary mnuchin, given the need to get relief money out ity, was inevitable was inevitable that the treasury ran into a lot of issues. That is a false economy. Taxpayers should not have to choose between quickly getting aid to those who needed and wasting federal funds. Need it and wasting several funds. There are several steps that could have been taken to improve oversight and reduce fraud. Our report makes recommendations for steps that the treasury can still take to safeguard taxpayer money, including improving the plan for ppp. As i have said before, the notose of our oversight is to cast blame for past failures, but to make improvements to ensure future success. Hearing will be an opportunity for democrats and republicans to come together to acknowledge the Serious Problems americans face, and identify real solutions. Thank you. In the Ranking Members absence, i know yield to mr. Jordan or a republican member he may designate for an opening statement. Mr. Jordan, i think you may need unmute. At need to we cant hear you. Please, unmute. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for joining us. Its unfortunate the chairman criticizes your work in this unprecedented time. I want to thank you for the great work that you have done. It is unfortunate the chairman did not take into account the fact that the Ranking Member was unavailable for todays hearing. We up or should the fact that you are here, mr. Secretary we appreciate the fact that you are here, mr. Secretary. The trump administrations work combating this virus was unprecedented from the beginning. Democratslosi and the stood in the way of the president. The democrats were focus on impeachment and the president was starting a task force to combat the virus. When myra de blasio said one mayor deblasio said go but your lives, the president was starting research on a vaccine. We have heard from dr. Fauci himself about how the president s actions saved lives. With a lot about science and following the recommendations of the cdc and the guidelines they put forward. For 46 days, Governor Cuomo sent positive patients back o nursing homes, sent positive Covid Patients back into nursing homes. It was difficult. People could not go to church, go to school, the president knew help was required. Working in 10 days, Congress Passed the largest spending relief bill in the history of the country. Was the Paycheck Protection Program, which toended 5 million loans businesses and individuals across this country. Stood up and hours and run out of money in two weeks. To Speaker Pelosi to ask for money, but she wanted to bail a democrat run cities instead of helping Small Businesses. Mitch mcconnell had a bill, it didnt get a vote. Introduced a. Roy bill that would replenish the fund and make it even more helpful to businesses on the ground. The ppp programs supported millions of jobs and businesses in america. How many more have faltered while the democrats held Additional Support hostage . 15 days after the cares act, director checks to families and families. You successfully implement of the people support program. Loans to the airline industry. This program was ready in a matter of hours. Again, unprecedented. The speaker continues to say states dont have the money, but they do. They have money available to them because of the trump administration. Is not to say everything was perfect. But we need to remember its the federal government. Response we get and what we achieve, theres going to be a few mistakes in the. In that. What should be commended as the hard work done to fix the mistakes. These programs save and continue to save jobs. The best way to stimulate an economy and grow our economy is to let people go back to work. When it was time, the president led the charge to reopen the country and get americans back to work and get our kids back to school. We are seeing a decrease in unemployment and a steady increase in jobs. Mr. Secretary, thank you. I look forward to having questions. I yelled back. I ask unanimous consent that we enter the republican report on the Paycheck Protection Program supported 51 million jobs across the country. I ask for unanimous consent that be made part of the record. Without objection, it will be done. Thank you, mr. Jordan. Introducew like to our witness. Today, the select committee is pleased to welcome the honorable stephen t. Mnuchin, secretary of the treasury. And you for being here today. Will you please stand so i may swear you in . Thank you for being here today. Will you please stand so i may swear you when . Do you swear or from the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god . You may be seated. Please let the record show the witness answered in the affirmative. Yourut objection, written statement will be made part of the record. You are now recognized for your opening statement. Sec. Mnuchin of chairman, members of the subcommittee, i am pleased to join you here today to discuss the covid19 pandemic. The treasury has been working hard to provide direct economic assistance to American Workers and the families. We remain committed to making sure that every american gets back to work as quickly as possible. The bipartisan cares act is the biggest Economic Relief package in american history. Nearlyc relief totaling 3 trillion, approximately 15 of gdp, is having a tremendous impact on the economy, leading to increases in jobs, retail sales, business activity, and home sales. I also want to thank chairman powell and the Federal Reserve for substantial work executing 13 unique lending facilities. Exceededreport forecasts with a gain of 1. 8 million jobs in july. The springs of three months total to more than 9 million jobs. This brings the threemonth total to more than 9 million jobs. The job openings suggest the job market has continued to strengthen. We also see signs of strength ing economic recovery in the retail industry, signaling Consumer Spending on goods has recovered. The isn Manufacturing Survey indicated that for the second consecutive month. The Housing Market has nearly returned to prepandemic levels, field by strong Housing Starts and existing home sales in july. Hospitality firms, among the business hardest hit, hired thousands of workers in july, signaling confidence in the economy reopening. To see signsinue of recovery, we are sensitive to the fact there is more work to be done in certain areas of the economy that require additional relief. When it became clear previous negotiations were not moving forward, the president took executive action to provide clinical relief to america critical relief to americans. We will continue to work with the senate and house on a phase 4an basis for relief package. A bipartisan agreement still should be reached and would provide substantial funds for pppols, testing, vaccines, for Small Businesses, continued enhanced Unemployment Benefits, child care, nutrition, agriculture, and the u. S. Postal service, along with Liability Protection for universities, schools, and business. We have released a significant amount of information on our treasury. Gov, and are providing more information on usa spending dot gov. This marks my fifth appearance before congress for a cares act hearing. Where cooperating with various inspector generals and the gao. The Department Heads disclosed all payroll support payments to airlines and other programs on treasury. Gov. We have also posted extensive documentation related to Coronavirus Relief Fund Payments to state, local, and tribal governments in our website. We are also pleased the Federal Reserve has posted one information on their website regarding its learning facilities its lending facilities. Its lending facilities. We remain committed to working with you to accommodate Congress Legislative need and further the whole of government approach to defeating covid19. I would like to thank the members of the committee for working with us to provide vital Economic Relief to the American People. I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, i wish to yield myself five minutes. Before we can fix the economy, we have to acknowledge the scale of the problem. Declared, ourp economy is roaring back. It is coming back extremely strong. He also predicted that the economy would have a fantastic Third Quarter. Today, we begin the last month of the Third Quarter. St with aly 1 wall small percentage of people. Shows that there are 27 million American Workers still receiving Unemployment Insurance. Of august 8. Three weeks ago. The is more than 10 times number of americans receiving Unemployment Benefits before the pandemic. 8, more than 2 million American Workers have filed new unemployment claims. Secretary, do these unemployment numbers indicate that our economy is coming back extremely strong, with a fantastic Third Quarter . Sec. Mnuchin mr. Chairman, let me first say, we are in an unprecedented situation where we closed down the entire u. S. Economy. This is not like a normal economic crisis. Im having a tough time reading your graph from here, but let me just comment. There are 16 Million People unemployed, down from 24 Million People unemployed. Without we would have 40 Million People unemployed, which fortunately we never have, and the continuing claims or 14. 5 million as of august 15. I do think the economy is recovering very strongly, but let me just say, there are still areas of the economy, no fault to Small Businesses, that it needs more help to recover. Well, i dont know as of the eighth, these numbers of august a, are as bigger drop since august 8. And that point, we indicated there are about 27 million americans who are out of work. Unemployment assistance. Many economists have warned that if relief measures expire, and as you know, unemployment has that we to supplement provided the supplement that we provided has expired, things would get even worse unless congress he next additionalacts fiscal stimulus. Former fedeek, chair, janet yellen, stated without additional action, americans will suffer, and the overall economy could degrade from its current bound in growth to no growth at all. Administration would refuse to agree to the heroes act or to any meaningful compromise to protect American Families. When asked why this committee thinks the package proposal be sufficient, janet yellen replied, i would be concerned about cabinet when we know the needs of the state and local governments alone come close to that and a substantial amount will also be needed for Unemployment Insurance for the Public Health needs. Chair, ben bernanke, agreed, telling us Congress Needs to do to address takes economic crisis. Is her secretary, will you working with the democrats in good faith on an agreement that does whatever it takes to assist struggling americans to end this crisis . Let me say, i very thosegree with you and to other experts that more fiscal response is needed. The president and i want to move forward with more physical response. Let me just say, the experiment the expiration of Unemployment Insurance is what we are concerned about. I am very proud of the last two bills in the senate. I said in my opening testimony, i believe republicans and democrats need to Work Together to have Additional Support. I have worked very closely on these before. Im prepared to sit down with the speaker at any time to negotiate. I think the issue is not, what is the top line . The issue is we need now support quickly. That is whats important to the american economy. If we need to do more, we can come back. Thent to emphasize, president and i do support additional fiscal response. We have been working hard to try to get a negotiated agreement on a bipartisan basis. Sec. Mnuchin thank you very much for that. Our time has expired. Ully, think we have a second round of that. I think we have a second round of that. I recognize mr. Jordan for five minutes. Thank you. Is it fair to say that if democrat governors would let people go back to work in their states, we probably would have less unemployment . Sec. Mnuchin i believe theres no question that the reason we have an employment is that certain states are not opening up and that there are issues. Obviously, some of that has to be balanced with the medical issues appropriately. Would expect anc employment to drop significantly between now and the end of the year. It is largely democrat states that keep their states locked down complaining about unemployment. Lets let people get back to work and we will have growth. How many jobs have been added to the economy in the last three months . Sec. Mnuchin next ordinary amount. An extraordinary amount. Close to 10 million new jobs. This idea that there is not a happening, itery would have been a let if you didnt have democrat governors keeping people from going back to work. How many times have you testified before congress . Sec. Mnuchin more times than i can count. Numerous times, right . Sec. Mnuchin yes. I think you said five times earlier. What you have put in place, the programs you have recommended, they have worked. Loansy how many loans are in the ppp program . Ppp program the has 5. 2 million loans that have supported are very number of jobs for small business. Think the number is over 50 million jobs i think the number is over 50 million jobs, 51 million jobs. 85 of Small Businesses received support. You just said a few minutes ago, its got strong bipartisan support. You are not afraid to come and testify it and every time. You are willing to come testify, because the programs that were put in place at the white house that the white house put in place are working. Would we have added 9 million jobs that you just saw in the last three months . Sec. Mnuchin there are over 50 of the private jobs and Small Businesses. We have over 130 billion left in ppp. Will i believe if Congress Take standalone action to repurpose somebody for additional funds, i believe this would pass with overwhelming support in the house in the senate. I would encourage the house to move forward with that. That is a great point, mr. Secretary. Would you say that is the most important thing . If in fact there is going to be another people legislation. Sec. Mnuchin i would say kids in jobs of the most important thing. As it relates to jobs, the area that has overwhelming bipartisan support that would be the easiest the past would be the ppp. Frankly, that is what you guys are trying to do. That is what you have been focused on in the negotiations with Speaker Pelosi. Unfortunately, she wants to add all kinds of other things. They want to avail of the states. The same states, by the way, who will not let their folks go back to work, adding to that unemployment number. Think we are well past the time where we should be focused on one thing and one thing only. That is letting people go back to work. If we are going to do any legislation, lets focus just on program, which we know was so effective, helpful to some many americans. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you. About to say, i agree the jobs report, and children are important, and i have a few grandchildren. They are important. But the health of every worker and every child is most important. For that, i will yield for five minutes. Thank you very much for holding this meeting. See that we have a member of the opposite side of the aisle who comes here this morning playing the blame game. First of all, let me say that for the cares act, we commend everybody. We commend the democrats, we commend the republicans. I have worked closely with mr. Mnuchin. Everybody that worked to get should be act passed commended. Now having said that, we cant say we did a good job with the cares act. Supplementemployment is out. We have people with meager benefits from the Unemployment Insurance who need their government to step up to help them. Then, we are facing a housing crisis. Folks who are needing rental assistance, facing evictions. We are in the middle of an epidemic, with homelessness. Small landlords, business the momandpop landlords are struggling to pay their mortgage. Some income has stopped altogether. I could go on and on about the bill. And so, instead of coming here bragging about what we have already done and trying to have everybody believe that the economy is so much better, or that we really dont have to increasing jobs are to the extent that we should be happy, instead of talking about what we do to create more jobs lets put that aside and stop blaming nancy pelosi and stop blaming others, were basically negotiating. I want the secretary to get to the negotiating table with nancy pelosi and schumer and meadows and get this job done. This is not just about poor people. This is about middleclass people, also. Let me read you something from by one of my middleclass people. Kevin maguire. I am a video operator in the entertainment business. Lustcovid19 hit, i contract with coachella, lost contracts with coachella, kendrick lamar, etc. I went from 1000 a day to 900 every two weeks. 12 million of us are dying in the music industry. What are you going to do for us . Im here to help. Im an emotional wreck. All by myself. There are others were having panic attacks. Please help us. Stop bragging about what we have already done. We have people who are hurting. Peopleit here, we have who have not been able to pay their rent for almost three months. Some are almost three months, two months behind. These are children. And while we are talking about what we are going to do to get the children back to school, if the children dont have a place to live and a place to sleep in, school does not even matter. While none of us want gaps and education, theyve got to have a place to live. So, we have 100 billion in the heroes act for rental assistance. Please, please, get back to the negotiating table, leave this blame game mess. Get back and lets get this country going. Lets stimulate this economy. This is our job. This is what people are expecting of us. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you, gentlelady. Thank you, mr. Chairman. A. Mnuchin, in response to couple of comments you made with i did someversight, quick calculating, and the initial First Tranche of money from the bbb program ppp ppp program, door funds and correctly given out. There were funds and correctly given out. We Start Talking about the number of loans, you said 10,000 loans out here that have problems with them. Loans isf 5. 2 million less than 210,007 . 2 10,000ts of a percent of a percent. I think i have a couple of questions in regard to some record to. E regulation sec. Mnuchin i hope you dont mind, since chair waters didnt ask me any questions, i want to thank her for her work on that. Getting hammered about the successes and the but ientation program, think a lot of your statements are in response to criticism by the chairman initially. Its kind of hard to figure out which hand you are supposed to respond to. And regards to regulation, the cares act, we have suspended that rule. I think its going to be continued to be important that we allow for barrons forbearance from the regulators o getter economy back on track. To get our economy back on track. I would like a Quick Response from you in terms of forbearance, as well. Sec. Mnuchin i agree with you on that, as well, thank you. I know that one of the things with regards to the stimulus checks that went out, a lot of people were concerned that the people who passed or were diseased are getting those checks. It came up in a previous hearing that you did not have access to the files of those folks who had passed. The you have that access now . Do you have that access now will i you access so that we have a second round of stimulus with a better job of implementation . Sec. Mnuchin we do have access now. We have recovered the a the majority of the funds. We do have access for that information to that information if we get approval for more checks. With regards to improving the program, thank you for all you did with the fed with regards to the different facilities. You were able to prop up and be able to capitalize a lot of the stuff going on out there, different areas of the economy. What do you see is the weak areas of the economy that the ppp program would be helpful in regards to helping . Dothe next passage of ppp, you see there would be a loss of revenue trigger . A cap on the number of loans that businesses could apply for . Sec. Mnuchin theres money left over, and i would very much target that money for businesses that have been the hardest hit. I think a decrease in revenue or profit is the right approach. A think we have bipartisan support for the. For that. It is many of the industries, travel, entertainment, hotels, Many Industries that have still been hit very hard. My time is up and i yield back. Thank you. The chair now recognizes mr. Velazquez. Ms. Velazquez for five minutes. Thank you for holding this important hearing. Thatally amazes me to hear what represents thousands of hear being granted to thousands of loans being granted to an eligible businesses. The 37d repurpose billion that is left for the ppp program. ,s i mentioned to the secretary thank you for working with me and chairwoman Maxine Waters on ppp, where going to have to make a commitment that we are going to use that money to provide access to those that were left behind. And this iswhy one of the reasons why i the treasury collect the Demographic Data so that we were able to assess whether or not the ppp program was working as we intended. Reality there seeing several lenders not collecting the Demographic Data. You implement a program when you are completely unaware of the businesses that have received those loans . They just came out and stated latino businesses declined by 32 and that black owners have been nearly three times have seen nearly three times the decline of other owners. I am happy to hear and welcome that money is intended to those businesses that have not accessed the ppp money. Is it true that you have committed to audit only the tiny , 2tion of ppp loans million, leaving the other 99 with no oversight . Sec. Mnuchin let me acknowledge the work you have done with us already. We look forward to working with you on making changes Going Forward to the program to make neediest have access. The answer to your question is no. Every single loan that is 2 million and greater will be going through an individual lot it. A lot of the rest of the loans an individual audit. All of the rest of the loans will go through an audit or whether it is thousands or millions of loans, they will go through automated audits. Whenld expect that sba, the review those loans, they will also find those things on an electronic basis. I have said that all loans will have thank you. My guess is that you disagree tith the senate bill tha contains straightline forgiveness for those loans up to 2 million. Loan,eligible for a ppp applicants must be in operation as of february 15 of 2020, right . Sec. Mnuchin yes. How manyu know ppp loansreceived that were not in existence prior to february 15 . Sec. Mnuchin i saw that. Let me just emphasize these loans were based on certification. We had 30 billion that was returned immediately we had 30 billion that was returned immediately. The bill has been changed so that even with streamline forgiveness, they will be subject to audit by the sba. Do you know, prior to today, how many businesses suspended ppp loans . D i appreciate the committees work. We are working with sba. I look forward to this committee and all the other oversight committees making sure they are comfortable with sbas audit plan. Thank you. That benefitse increase Consumer Spending, benefiting Small Businesses . Sec. Mnuchin yes. That is why we would like to extend enhanced unemployment. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you. First, i have unanimous consent request. I would like to enter into the record a recent article on how the expiration of the 600 unemployment on unemployment assistance and the failure to pass the heroes act or any alternative has harmed American Families. Americans are spending less on groceries. It is a sign that americans are , as stimulusash remains on hold for most recipients. Americans spend less at the grocery store, published on the wall street journal on august 7, 2020. I seek consent to have that entered into the record. Without objection, so awarded. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Secretary, for appearing here. I would like to speak more about extend this. I wonder why we have not seen the Senate Passed an alternative the senate pass an alternative to the euros that. To the heroes at. Of the last 23 weeks, including the most recent week, more than one million americans have filed for new unemployment claims. Enhanced federal Unemployment Insurance has helped millions of americans keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. That is why we, democrats, voted to extend these payments, because we know from talking to ourstituents constituents, the economic fallout from this pandemic is far from over. Because Senate Republicans refused to agree to an extension, these benefits expired at the end of july. Almost 30 million americans without federal help. This is not only wrong, secretary mnuchin, it is counterproductive if your goal is to actually fix the economy. The Macro Economic effects of the bill are huge. The former chair, ben bernanke, testified in the subcommittee that renewing Unemployment Insurance is important to increase aggregate demand and boost spending the economy. The failure to renew these benefits are causing our country to lose about one years worth of economic growth. Every dollar spent on Unemployment Insurance generates as much as two dollars in official gdp for the economy. The loss of extra job benefits is affecting Consumer Spending. Consumer, the index fell to the lowest level in six years. Is especially worrisome, because as you know, Consumer Spending accounts for about 70 of Economic Activity in the u. S. And it has been hit most savagely by the coronavirus. Secretary mnuchin, my question is, would you agree with ben bernanke that enhanced Unemployment Insurance provides an economic boost . And why is their opposition to extend the 600 in weekly there opposition to extend the 600 in weekly benefits . Let me just say, the president extended through executive authority enhanced unemployment up to 400 per person. Havefortunately do not we unfortunately do not have unlimited amounts of money to do that. But many states have adopted this. The house wanted to move forward with Unemployment Benefits. Its only the Senate Holding it back. What i said is, the president moved forward with enhanced unemployment. The senate did move forward with keptposal of 70 of wages at 600 cap that 600. At 600. What bill did they pass that had this . Announcer unfortunately, they have not sec. Mnuchin unfortunately, they have not passed this in a piecemeal basis. Nothing could be passed without bipartisan support. But again, i would encourage both the house and senate, there are areas that we have overlap in agreement. So americanorward workers and kids, things we can agree on, lets pass quickly. I will have more questions about the nuts and bolts of the executive order. Thanks so much. I yield back. Mr. Raskin thank you. Welcome. President trump called our Postal Service a joke. As he has gotten you more involved in the Postal Service, i wonder whether he has told you which changes he is specifically office in the post related to elections or amazon. I think you know i chaired a Postal Task Force and one of the recommendations we made was for the post office to look at package pricing for ecommerce. That is not part of the conversation. I recommended that to the president. Other than things i recommended, the president has not made specific comments to me. Rep. Raskin you were National Finance chairman of the trump theaign and louis dejoy was deputy National Finance chairman of the Republican National committee. Did you first get to know him and that political context or through a business context and, based on your experience in either political arenas, did you consider him qualified to be the postmaster general . Sec. Mnuchin i first met him in 2016 stop i have not seen or spoken to him in the last year. I consider him very well fight to be postmaster general but i had no specific conversations with him and that job until the committee updated me that he was one of the finalists. You everin did discuss his possible appointment or qualifications with the republican governors on the postal board . Sec. Mnuchin i never discussed his qualifications. They gave me an update on their process but i never made any specific comments recommending him or not. Rep. Raskin it has been widely reported that in february, you met with two republican members of the postal governors port to risk to discuss the replacement of the outgoing postmaster general. Why did you get involved in the process and why did you invite just republican governors on this bipartisan board with a nonpartisan mission to have a discussion with you, but no democratic governors . Sec. Mnuchin one thing i am proud of his i recommended part of the task force, we had the conform governors. I am pleased to the senate had a bipartisan board. One of the people was chair of the board and the other was chair of subcommittee. I had other meetings that included democrats. Again, as the largest creditor, it was appropriate for them to keep me posted. But i had no involvement in the recruitment of the postmaster general at all. Rep. Raskin it has been stated by the former vice chairman of the board that when mr. Dejoy somehow mysteriously surfaced as a candidate at the end of the process when he had not been part of the original search process, that he seemed almost reluctant to take the job and when you first appeared before the election committee, he was interviewing the Selection Committee to the point where one of them set at the end, we better ask you a question so we can say there was a real interview. Were you involved in trying to convince mr. Dejoy to take this position, and what kinds of interviews did you have during the process as this unfolded . Try touchin i did not convince him to take it. I had no involvement. I was quite surprised when i found out he was a candidate. Involvement in the process whatsoever. He was approved on a bipartisan basis by the committee. Rep. Raskin one member resigned in protest. It has been reported you pressured the Postal Service to give the president and the Treasury Department sweeping control over internal operations of the post office, including over hiring decisions for senior appointees and over Service Contracts with thirdparty private shippers in exchange for an urgently needed federal loan. A former member of governors, you pressed for the changes even after the Postal Service general told you these demands were illegal. Can you explain why you think it would benefit the American People to give greater operational control over the post office to the administration in exchange for and what specific requests and demands did you make . Sec. Mnuchin let me be clear. Solelyr was made was from the Treasury Department and not in any way from other areas of the administration, number one. Number two, we are the largest creditor. Number three, i was authorized by congress to lend additional money and yes, as a typical creditor would, we wanted details of the largest contracts. It is typical of what would be required from a lender. Have control of the post office. I would comment we agreed with senator schumer and the speaker on money for the post office. This was an area of agreement. The post office has substantial cash and we want to make sure they have substantial liquidity Going Forward. Rep. Raskin can you commit that the post office will get the resources it needs to deliver the mail on time so we can have a fair and accurate election in 2020 . Sec. Mnuchin i can only commit we will have funds available. We have a signed term sheet. They have 10 million they can draw down whatever they needed need it, subject to conditions they signed and agreed to. As part of the new package, we have agreed, we will give them another 10 million, more than enough money on top of their 14 billion in cash. I yield back. Thank you. The chair yields five minutes. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming over here. I appreciate your time. I wanted to start with your question from a Restaurant Owner in my district. I promised i would come down to d. C. And ask you. I wanted to ask you, what does success mean to you when it comes to the economic recovery . What is the goal you are trying to achieve and measures you are using . Sec. Mnuchin i think there are many measures of success and not a single one. One of the most important measures is getting everyone back to work who lost their jobs as a result of this. Another measure is to make sure Small Businesses can succeed. Wether measures to make sure have money that our kids can go to school safely. There are many measures. I think on an economic standpoint, things like employment, retail sales, gdp, are all important statistics. Economic the National Council stated, at the moment, the story looks good. We are set for a vshaped recovery. Recovery isy that achievable . Is that what it looks like is happening to you . I think we are set for a strong recovery but there are Many Industries in many Small Businesses and many Small Businesses that have been destroyed by this so i urge , ress rep. Kim many experts i have talked to are warning about a k shaped recovery rather than vshaped. Here, look at this chart it is showing that when it comes to high wages, a lot of ,nemployment has bounced back 0. 5 . When it comes to lower wages, we are looking at 15. 7 in terms of employment on that front. If inequality is something i am concerned about, then i andrstand there is momentum progress in some parts of it, but i do not feel that the inequality is being addressed to a level we need to. I listened to your opening statements. At no place are you mentioning the inequality that is happening in our recovery. I wanted to ask again, looking at the chart behind me, does this look like the signs of a healthy recovery . I cannot verify the numbers. You, the to assure president and the entire administration thinks there is more work to be done. Lets not get lost on different letters of the alphabet. There are clearly parts of the economy that need more work. Rep. Kim we have seen the pandemic exacerbate inequality in our nation that we had inequality before that. I worry that the trajectory we are on is something that could make america more unequal than it was before the pandemic. Is that a concern of yours . It is something you are focused on. One area we agreed upon on a bipartisan basis. Again, i urge that Congress Needs to work to move forward. There are areas we need to focus on. Rep. Kim really try to continue to highlight the inequality built in. A lot of people in my district do not align. Your comments are resonating with them. Mr. Chairman, back to you. A five minute recess. [indistinct conversations] [indistinct conversations]

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