(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he has spoken with his presumed successor, Janet Yellen, about ending several Federal Reserve emergency coronavirus lending facilities, a decision that's drawing criticism from Democrats.
“We are cooperating with the transition,” he said Wednesday in response to a question during a House Financial Services hearing. “I had a very good working relationship with her when she was the Fed chair.”
The pair discussed the conflict around the legal interpretation of the Cares Act, which Mnuchin says requires him to return unspent funds to Congress by Dec. 31. Democrats contend that money, designed to boost the economy amid the coronavirus, can be used into next year, as long as the pandemic is still raging.
“I have advised her that my reading of this and my interpretation was non-political, and was following the law,” Mnuchin said, referring to Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden's pick for Treasury secretary. “So yes I did advise her of that.”
“She didn't reflect interpretation one way or the other,” he said.
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