Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday he's putting together a group of investors to try to buy TikTok, a day after the House passed a bill that could force the Chinese owners of the popular app to sell the business.

The House bill would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless Bytedance sells the business within six months. Lawmakers passed the bill, citing the danger that China could potentially access data about the millions of Americans who regularly use the app.

"It's a great business and I'm going to put together a group to buy TikTok," Mnuchin said…

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he’s interested in pulling together a group of investors to buy TikTok. 

“I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s Squawk Box Thursday morning. “It’s a great business, and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok.”

“This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China,” Mnuchin, who served as the secretary of the treasury under former President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021, added.

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is building an investor group to acquire ByteDance’s TikTok, as a bipartisan piece of legislation winding its way through Congress threatens its continued existence in the U.S.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bipartisan bill that if signed into law would force ByteDance to either divest its flagship global app or face an effective ban on TikTok within the U.S.

Having wrapped up business ahead of the Thanksgiving break, Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill were set Friday to retreat to their respective corners to plot strategy for future coronavirus stimulus talks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer were to meet with President-elect Joe Biden, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was set to talk with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

The Treasury Department said it has opened an investigation into allegations of racial harassment and discrimination raised by Black employees at the U.S. Mint, the government entity responsible for circulating coins in the country.

A group of Black employees at the Mint wrote a letter in June asking Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to intervene and address what they say is “rampant racism” at the bureau, according to the letter, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The majority of states have yet to commit to the program for boosting unemployment benefits offered by President Trump via executive action.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday confirmed that only a handful of states have either been approved, applied, or in the process of signing up for the program.

“It looks like five states have already been approved. We have another four states that have submitted and about another 10 states that are in the process,” he told CNBC.

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin urged congressional Democrats on Wednesday to come back to the bargaining table to work out a fifth coronavirus relief bill of slightly more than $1 trillion in aid for schools and small businesses.

Four days after President Trump bypassed Congress by signing executive actions to cut payroll taxes and extend unemployment benefits, Mr. Mnuchin said more needs to be done to boost the economy.

As the United States plunges into the worst economic downturn in decades, there is growing concern that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are being too timid and halting in their approach as they scramble to rescue the economy.

The Senate Banking Committee took its first look at spending under the massive CARES Act, which Congress approved in March to provide assistance to individuals, businesses and local governments affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were pressed by senators about their stewardship of specific aspects of the approximately $2 trillion relief package at Tuesday's remote hearing.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have lent hardly any money under a $500 billion fund created by the economic rescue law passed in response to the coronavirus crisis, a congressional oversight panel says in a new report.

The Treasury fund is being used to guarantee new, expansive Federal Reserve lending programs to companies, states and cities that could be leveraged to reach as much as $4.5 trillion.