Surprised? Don’t be:
A company owned by a Michigan legislative leader and one run by a U.S. Senate candidate each received between $1 million and $2 million from a federal rescue program that was created to preserve jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jackson-based Orbitform, which was founded by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and builds assembly machines for manufacturers, was among nearly 20,000 recipients in Michigan that were identified by the Treasury Department on Monday. Another was Renaissance Global Logistics of Detroit, whose CEO is John James, the Republican challenger to Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters. The firm is subsidiary of the family-owned James Group International.
The Paycheck Protection Program helps smaller businesses to stay open and keep Americans employed during the pandemic. Under the PPP, the government is backing $659 billion in low-interest business loans that will be forgiven if employers use the money on payroll, rent and similar expenses.
Companies typically must have fewer than 500 workers to qualify. About $130 billion was unclaimed when the application deadline closed June 30, so Congress voted to extend the program, setting a new date of Aug. 8.
The public may never know the identity of more than 80% of the nearly 5 million beneficiaries to date because the administration has refused to release details on loans under $150,000 — the vast majority of borrowers. That secrecy spurred an open-records lawsuit by a group of news organizations, including The Associated Press. Still, the release of the data is the most complete look at the program’s recipients so far.
Meanwhile, while James is raking in the federal loan cash, U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D. MI) has been busy getting Moscow Mitch to really help out people who are suffering during this pandemic:
We need to make sure the Blue Wave hits Michigan hard this year. Click below to donate and get involved with Peters, Joe Biden and their fellow Michigan Democrats campaigns:
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