![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It is common for members of Congress to be affiliated with or invested in such companies, Sludge’s analysis shows. While the loans to lawmakers certainly are helpful for their businesses, some of the biggest financial assistance from the CARES Act likely comes in the form of tax relief for so-called “pass through” business entities, such as LLCs. It is not illegal or against House and Senate ethics rules for members to hold positions outside their duties in Congress-and many do, while simultaneously crafting legislation that will help those companies, Sludge found in July. Extending the additional $600 in weekly unemployment checks would “only slow our economic recovery,” the lawmakers wrote. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and 33 other GOP representatives wrote to President Trump and implored him to stop extended unemployment benefits from reaching jobless Americans in the spring and summer. He also benefited from PPP funding when his family’s business received $4.3 million in loans that most likely will not have to be repaid.Īlong with many other Republicans, Guthrie had decried stimulus spending aimed at ordinary workers and individuals who do not earn six digit salaries. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) was one of the members who voted nay on Monday night. Even if no deliberate favoritism is involved, the optics of potential self-dealing alone undermines public confidence in these programs.” “Like the larger business that…reaped the greatest rewards from the PPP program, government officials themselves have inside knowledge of how the application process works and who to contact for the public assistance. “The opportunities for corruption and scandal are particularly ripe when the business interests of members of Congress and other government officials go to the trough for public funds from programs they helped design,” said Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a non-partisan government watchdog. Among the Republicans who voted to not fund a second round of PPP, among other provisions, are 10 who received $15.3 million in PPP loans from the CARES Act. While the majority of Democrats and Republicans voted to pass Monday’s COVID relief package, two Democrats and 57 Republicans voted against it. An additional roughly $54 million went to nonprofits, think tanks and policy institutes, congressional caucuses, and higher education institutions tied to members of both parties. Nine Democrats received $6.1 million for 11 of their own businesses. Sludge found that 18 congressional Republicans and one Libertarian have received $21.7 million for 38 businesses with which they are associated. President Trump criticized the bill but fell short of saying he’ll veto it Congress appears to have enough votes to override a veto. On Thursday morning, House Republicans blocked Democrats’ attempt to increase stimulus check payments from $600 to $2,000. The revelation that so many members of Congress personally benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) authorized by the CARES Act comes as Congress must consider how to address President Trump’s Tuesday night demand that all Americans be given $2,000 stimulus checks, after their Monday night bill cut in half unemployment insurance and stimulus checks for Americans compared to an earlier House proposal. As members of Congress pat themselves on the back for passing a new coronavirus relief package after a nine-month impasse, Americans can count on less money in the form of stimulus checks and unemployment insurance than they did in the spring, when Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)-and took advantage of it themselves.Ī Sludge analysis of COVID bailout data found that companies at which 28 members of Congress or their spouses hold positions received at least $27 million in loans likely to be forgiven under the CARES Act. ![]()
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