Mnuchin's Fed funding clawback will not 'hamstring' new administration

Mnuchin told Fed Chair Powell in a letter that the $455 bn allocated to Treasury under the CARES Act last spring should be available for Congress to reallocate

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's decision to claw back funds from Federal Reserve coronavirus lending programs will not "hamstring" the next Treasury secretary because the move will leave nearly $600 billion in cash that could quickly aid workers and businesses, a senior Treasury official said on Friday.

The official told Reuters in a phone interview that the Fed facilities will not be dissolved, and can be quickly recapitalized to a lending capacity of $750 billion to $800 billion with funds from Treasury's Depression-era Exchange Stabilization Fund.

Mnuchin told Fed Chair Jerome Powell in a letter on Thursday that the $455 billion allocated