Our current state of events just brings these ideas out in me. It's easy to get caught up in what's going on...then off on a tangent. Small-minded, I guess.
Yes, Marjorie Taylor Greene received a PPP loan that was forgiven, to the tune of slightly less than $184,000. (She and her husband own a construction company -- the money went to that.)
PPP loans, in case you're wondering, were issued to companies who applied because of hardship during Covid times. Paycheck Protection Plans were basically loans in name only, with the assumption that they could -- and would -- be forgiven by the SBA (Small Business Administration). And this happened -- a lot. As of July 4, 2022, more than 11 and a half million PPP loans were issued to 707 borrowers. Of those loans, more than 10.2 million have been forgiven in part or in full.
Bear in mind that we're not talking money yet -- we're talking the number of loans. Although the average loan, according to the Pandemic Oversight website, was a little more than $72,000, a number went to the max: TEN MILLION DOLLARS. Each. According to the website:
If borrowers use at least 60% of the loan to cover payroll within 8 or 24 weeks after receiving the loan, they can submit an application to have the loan forgiven. Our data shows that 97% of PPP loans were used for payrolls.
Back to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Greene is someone President Biden is not terribly fond of. He pointed out with great clarity that she did not support his student loan forgiveness plan. And he's right -- she said the plan was unfair to people who'd never taken out a student loan. (Let alone the ones who did --like us -- and paid the money back.)
She's also one of 13 Republicans in Congress who received PPP loans that were forgiven.
(I have no idea whether this includes family members -- or not. Greg Pence, by the way, is Mike Pence's older brother.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) with a $476,000 loan
Rep. Greg Pence (R-Indiana) for $79,441
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Florida) for $2.8 million
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Oklahoma) for $1.07 million
Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) for $1.43 million
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky) for $4.3 million
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) for $306,520
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania) for $974,100
Rep. Vicki Hartzler (R-Missouri) for $451,200
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) for $988,700
Rep. Carol Miller (R-West Virginia) for $3.1 million
The White House didn't go easy on them, either: "The Biden administration also noted that Republican critics of the student loan plan, like representatives Vern Buchanan, Markwayen Mullin and Kevin Hern all each had over $1m in PPP loans."
This is awful -- and any redblooded American who DID pay their student loans has the right to protest. (The Republicans are pictured in this link, in case you want to look at their photos -- and spit at them.)
Shame on them. Make them pay it back!
That'll show them for hypocrisy, double-talk, and defying the President!
BUT --
In their zeal to point this out, the White House opened a second can of worms:
How many Democrats in Congress also took PPP loans they didn't have to pay back?
The White House doesn't want us to look inside this particular can. And the specifics are carefully hidden -- in spite of extended research, I could not find the exact number, except for a comment that there are "many of them." But here are a few:
*Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Oregon) wife, Nancy Bass Wyden, received a $2.7 million loan. Forgiven.
*Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pennsylvania) got one. (No numbers listed)
*Rep. Susie Lee's (D-Nevada) husband is the CEO of a casino that got one. (Again, no $$ listed.)
*Even Paul Pelosi, Nancy's husband, has a financial stake in a restaurant company that had $1.7 million in PPP loans forgiven. (Nancy joins him, too.)
Update: add some more to the list, including:
- Senator Jeanne Shaheen
- Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell**
- Rep. Devin Nunes
**Actually Mucarsel-Powell's loan was returned in full, all $15 million of it. Good for her - and them.
What will you bet that there are more?
Shame on them. Make them pay it back!
That'll show them for hypocrisy, double-talk, and supporting the President!
Maybe it also will help balance the drain all those forgiven student loans are going to take -- on our economy, and on our country's burgeoning debt.
Jonathan Swift would be proud.
.
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