Mnuchin won’t commit to testifying before House select coronavirus relief committee

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would not commit to testifying before the House of Representatives’s coronavirus committee in an interview Thursday with The Hill Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack for The Hill’s Advancing America’s Economy virtual event.

“I can’t comment on that, I haven’t really reviewed it one way or another,” Mnuchin said Tuesday, when asked whether he would testify before the House’s select committee, announced in April to monitor the implementation of nearly $3 trillion in coronavirus relief measures.

“I will say I testified this week at the Senate Banking Committee” along with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Mnuchin added, saying “there’s a specific oversight committee that was set up that consists of Republicans and Democrats … I’m not really sure why the House needs to set up another committee.”

“There are other committees that have specific jurisdiction that Chair Powell and I will testify before,” he added.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in late April that the House committee would “be laser-focused on ensuring that taxpayer money goes to workers’ paychecks and benefits and it will ensure that the federal response is based on the best possible science and guided by health experts — and that the money invested is not being exploited by profiteers and price gougers.”

The Hill’s event was sponsored by Wells Fargo and Siemen’s.