At least four members of Congress representing both parties have benefited in some way from the half-trillion-dollar small-business loan program they helped create, Politico reported on Tuesday.
There are “almost certainly more,” Politico says, but so far the Trump administration refuses to name any of loan recipients under the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), as News & Guts reported Monday.
The PPP was created to help small businesses continue to pay employees during shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
All of the lawmakers whose identities were revealed insist the loans “were acquired through proper channels and part of a desire to help keep Americans employed,” Politico says.
It’s not illegal — or even unusual — for politicians to apply for or take government money, but the situation raises important questions about the lawmakers’ potential conflicts of interest.
The four include Reps. Roger Williams (R-TX), described as “a wealthy businessman who owns auto dealerships, body shops and car washes”; Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), “whose family owns multiple farms and equipment suppliers across the Midwest”; Susie Lee (D-NV), “whose husband is CEO of a regional casino developer,” and Debbie Mucarsel Powell (D-FL), “whose husband is an executive at a restaurant chain that has since returned the loan,” the political website says.
House Democrats have pressed to require that PPP recipients’ names, the size of their loans and their purpose be made public. The loans can be for up to $10 million.
But a bill to force disclosure of loans of $2 million or more, authored by Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), was blocked by nearly 150 House Republicans, including Williams and Hartzler. The bill won support from 38 Republicans but fell just short of getting a fast track to passage.
“This is the largest distributor of taxpayer money in human history, and we need to ensure taxpayers know where it’s going,” Phillips told Politico. He added that his bill “was not written to expose members of Congress, because frankly I expected members of Congress to be forthright and transparent to begin with.”
Spokespeople for Republicans Williams and Hartzler declined to say how much money the companies they own received, Politico says. But aides to both said the loans were below the $2 million reporting threshold the blocked bill would have established. The aides refused to offer details.
As for the Democrats: Full House Resorts, of which Lee’s husband is the president and CEO, received $5.6 million, Politico says, citing Securities and Exchange Commission filings. And Fiesta Restaurant Group, where Mucarsel Powell’s husband as an executive, got $15 million before returning it.
