Funny thing it seems like many Republican lawmakers who are condemning President Biden’s plan to forgive student loans had no problem taking the governments cash when it came to PPP loan forgiveness.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, was bill authorizing $2.2 trillion economic stimulus. The bipartisan bill passed by the 116th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27, 2020, was in response to the economic fallout of the COVID disease.
A major part of the bill provided loans to companies that were hard hit by the COVID 19 VIRUS. Small Business Administration, which administered the loans, “Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers may be eligible for loan forgiveness if the funds were used for eligible payroll costs, payments on business mortgage interest payments, rent, or utilities during either the 8- or 24-week period after disbursement.”
Here are just a few Republicans who took a taxpayer bailout from PPP but had problems with helping college students.
Reps. Vern Buchanan of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, and Markwayne Mullin and Kevin Hern of Oklahoma — who it said had six- and seven-figure PPP loans forgiven as part of a federal program intended to help those harmed by the coronavirus.
According to The Tampa Bay Times, Rep. Buchanan had more than $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven, per the ProPublica database, which said the funds were spent on payroll. This coming from a man who called the Biden student loan plan “reckless.’
According to documents provided to the press from the White House highlighted Rep. Greene, who said on Newsmax that “it’s completely unfair” for student loans to be forgiven, for their loans but had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven.
Meanwhile, Rep. Kelly, who tweeted that Biden’s move was poised to benefit “Wall Street advisors” at the cost of “plumbers and carpenters,” had $987,237 forgiven, the White House said.
That brings us to Rep. Mullin of Oklahoma spoke out against canceling student debt on Wednesday, writing: “We do not need farmers and ranchers, small business owners, and teachers in Oklahoma paying the debts of Ivy League lawyers and doctors across the US.”
He also tweeted: “There is no such thing as free lunch.”
According to The Associated Press, Rep. Mullin had more than $1.4 million in PPP loans forgiven, the ProPublica data showed. The loaned money was spent on payroll, the data said. Talk about a free lunch, he isn’t eating at McDonalds.
According to ProPublica data showed that Florida Rep. Matt A company Gaetz has reported being a shareholder of had $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven, with the relief funds spent on payroll.
Look you could make an argument that forgiving student loans may not be fair to the taxpayers of the county but if you or your company accepted free money from the US government via PPP which also came from the countries taxpayers you don’t have a moral leg to stand on. Part of the PPP argument against giving money to businesses during COVID was a bad idea because taxpayer money should not go to businesses that were not strong enough to survive tough times.
Again, we can debate why or why not forgiving student loans is a good idea but at least we should make the conversation honestly.
