NEW REPORT: Waste & Abuse: How House Republicans Made Millions From Flawed Pandemic Relief Program
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer admitted the partisan political stunts he is planning are designed to discourage President Biden from running for re-election. As Comer has described, the first of those hearings, set to take place on Wednesday, February 1st, will investigate how “the Biden administration has allowed fraud to run rampant in federal assistance programs” related to the pandemic.
One thing that Comer won’t discuss at this week’s hearing is how Congressional Republicans reaped millions of dollars from the Trump Administration’s scandal plagued Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In total, businesses tied to Republicans on the House Oversight Committee received at least $3.5 million in PPP funds that were distributed as loans, and ultimately forgiven.
The PPP program was designed to help small businesses keep their doors open and employees on payroll, but the Trump Administration – with the support of Congressional Republicans – made the program ripe for waste, fraud, and abuse that has cost taxpayers billions.
When the Trump administration conceived and implemented the PPP program, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee vehemently defended it. House Oversight Member Jim Jordan (OH-4) argued that “over 99 percent of the [PPP] money went to the correct recipient and has been used appropriately.” In reality, about 10% of the PPP’s $800 billion in relief was estimated to be stolen by fraudulent applicants. Yet, when Democrats held a hearing with the chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, Jordan used the opportunity to air false claims of widespread election fraud. Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said as recently as June of 2022 that the rate of fraud in the PPP program “is better than most federal programs that have been around for decades.”
This week, as Republicans who blame the Biden Administration for the flaws of Trump programs, it is important to note how these members had no problem exploiting flaws in government programs – as long as they got their cut.
For example, here is how Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have benefitted from PPP loans themselves:
- Rep. Chuck Edwards (NC-11) had a significant role in a company that received $1.1 million in PPP funds
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13) is the chairwoman of a conservative organization hosted by the Prager University Foundation, which received over $700,000 in PPP funds ● Three businesses Rep. Pat Fallon (TX-4) has a role in cumulatively received over $500,000 in PPP funds
- Businesses Rep. William Timmons (SC-4) had a role in received nearly $300,000 in PPP funds
- Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10) founded a company that received nearly $300,000 in PPP funds ● Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) was CFO of a company that received over $175,000 in PPP funds
- Rep. Nick Langworthy (NY-23) was chair of the New York Republican State Committee, which received over $100,000 in PPP funds during his term
- Rep. Russell Fry (SC-7) was a partner at a law firm that received more than $150,000 in PPP funds
It might be asking too much for a committee filled with election deniers, insurrectionists, and QAnon conspiracy theorists to demonstrate a basic level of intellectual consistency. Yet, it’s clear that the Trump-style politics Chair Comer has brought to his committee are designed to damage President Biden and Democrats at any cost. He has chosen to waste time on partisan political attacks instead of focusing on the priorities the American people care deeply about.
