Reps. Cleaver, Pressley, Meeks Call On Treasury To Provide Diversity Data From Paycheck Protection Program

(Kansas City, MO) – United States Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, II (D-MO), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Gregory Meeks (D-NY), along with Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Kamala Harris (D-CA) and over 80 of their fellow lawmakers in the U.S. House and Senate, have called on the Department of Treasury and Small Business Administration (SBA) to require lenders to report on the demographics of any lending from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza, the members of Congress are also requesting the SBA and Treasury amend their guidance on PPP to reaffirm the obligation that lending institutions must comply with fair lending laws.

In the letter, the lawmakers wrote:

"Congress authorized the Paycheck Protection Program to provide financial support and stability to small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet we continue to hear from minority-owned businesses that they face structural barriers to acquiring these loans. To ensure equitable access to this program, the U.S. Small Business Administration must ensure that minority-owned businesses are not shut out of this program and require lenders to report on the demographics of PPP lending."

The members are specifically calling for the data to include information on loan applications and outcomes, disaggregated along racial and ethnic lines.

"Minority-owned businesses accounted for half of all new businesses created in the last decade," said Congressman Cleaver. "They are a critical component to the American economy, and any failure to stabilize these locally-owned businesses will result in a significant weakening of the national economy as a whole. It's crucial that we ensure fair lending laws are being followed by PPP lenders to ensure these businesses survive the economic calamity we've found ourselves in. I look forward to working with Treasury and SBA make sure that happens."

You can find the official letter here.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Blue Springs, Grain Valley, Oak Grove, North Kansas City, Gladstone, Claycomo, and all of Ray, Lafayette, and Saline Counties. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee; Chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy; member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress; member of the Committee on Homeland Security; and a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. For more information, please contact Matt Helfant at 202-590-0175 or Matthew.Helfant@mail.house.gov A high-resolution photo of Congressman Cleaver is available here.