Marjorie Taylor Greene was one of many Republicans complaining about President Biden’s decision to forgive $10,000-20,000 of debt that college students owe for taking out federal loans to finance their education.
The White House released a response: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene applied for and received a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan of more than $180,000. The loan was forgiven.
Unlike college students who had a debt of $10,000 forgiven, her debt of $180,000 was forgiven. And she complains about them! That’s called chutzpah.
Alternet reports:
Highlighting the hypocrisy of Greene and other Republicans claiming it’s unfair to have loans forgiven at taxpayer expense, the White House also posted to Twitter that U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), and other Republicans attacking the administration for its student loan forgiveness program, had massive PPP loans forgiven….
According to ProPublica, Rep. Greene’s family construction business took out a PPP loan on April 10, 2020, for $182,300. In total, including interest, the federal government forgave her and her family’s loan totaling $183,504.
The PPP loans, also known as the Paycheck Protection Program, originated under President Donald Trump and was facilitated via the Small Business Administration. The were $800 billion in PPP loans made, according to NBC News.
Watchdogs estimate billions in fraudulent PPP loans were forgiven.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We have a local MTG. She used her PPP money to open three (more) restaurants! She also is a Trumpet, a vaxx opponent, a Covid denier (despite a death in the family), and a serial harasser of public figures whose offense was in following public health rules. Her latest stunt was picketing Adam Schiff when he was in town for a book signing, last Friday. Yes, it’s her right, and I guess she even has the right to scream at people, but the lies she pushes are breathtaking.
Stupid is incurable.
This highlights something much worse than simple hypocrisy.
I think “legalized corruption” would be an apt terminology.
Why is ANY member of Congress (Republican or Democrat) allowed to directly benefit from what Congress voted for? (Particularly when they make $174,000 a year in salary and have top notch free health insurance and all sorts of other perks besides.)
Be still peeon!
Great question. Conflict of interest.
What Taylor Green has said or done regarding student loans should not be a surprise to anyone. Absolutely no surprise.
Hypocrisy is something she and her buddy Trump have engrained in their genes, their DNA. Like Trump, her parents probably raised her to be the way she is.
She cannot help herself and cannot be any other way but it is everyone around her that must pay for the way she is.
She is a genuine uneducated nut.
Chutzpah, the Latin term for cojones
I think Chutzpah is the wrong term to apply to toxic MTG. It’s too much of a complement.
MTG
Empty gal
How about MTG (miles to go) to reach zero.
RE: Cindy Watter’s “local MTG” above.
Let’s set her politics aside. Does it make sense that her PPP loan was so big it allowed her to expand her biz by 3 more restaurants? I don’t think so. The idea of PPP as I understood it was to help one get out the other side more or less unharmed. [Not to support adding 3 more branches to one’s biz!] Lotsa slips between cup & lip in the PPP dept, apparently.
My son was able to get a modest PPP forgiveable loan to help his small entertainment biz stay afloat. It in fact did not really keep it afloat, although he did the best he could, because covid lasted a whole helluva lot longer than anyone expected. He invested the $ into the audio/ studio side of biz [because performance was out of the question], and that probably boosted things a tad, patching through during the lengthy time they were not able to perform or tour—at least their name is still out there as they begin getting back in gear. But some would eyeball that and consider it a loss.
I don’t consider either Ms Watter’s local restauranteer’s or my son’s PPP loan lost, or fraudulently-gained taxpayer funds. Our country has bounced back faster & more solidly than any of our W European peers, and the consensus of economists’ opinions is, it’s because we got cash directly into consumers’ & small-biz peoples’ wallets swiftly. Had we dithered with bureaucratic processes [extensive means-testing & monitoring] as our W Euro cousins did, we’d not be where we are today.
I’m not entirely sure we are right to excoriate legislators’ forgiven PPP loans either. It’s quite possible theirs also contributed to keep our economy afloat. Let’s get it straight: what we’re excoriating here is those legislators’ absurd denouncing of the miniscule $10k forgiven on each student debtor’s loan, which is about equivalent to our fed & state’s minimum 30% disinvestment in higher education over the last few decades.
I’m not convinced that legislators should get benefits from programs they approved. Conflict of interest?
If you look at the list of PPP awardees, which I will post in a day or two, you will scratch your head about many of them.
Yup, interesting question. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/26/sba-exempted-lawmakers-federal-officials-ethics-rules-660-billion-loan-program/