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How a $17 billion bailout fund intended for Boeing ended up in very different hands
Source: Washington Post
How a $17 billion bailout fund intended for Boeing ended up in very different hands
Millions of dollars have gone to an experimental spaceflight firm backed by venture capital, companies with a history of financial losses and an Arkansas manufacturer that relies on prison labor
By Yeganeh Torbati and Aaron Gregg
11/25/2020, 6:00:50 a.m.
The Trump administration has used a $17 billion loan fund meant for businesses critical to U.S. national security to help a hodgepodge of little-known companies with unclear importance to national defense, and the fund remains mostly unspent nearly eight months after Congress approved it as part of a $2 trillion stimulus bill.
Aircraft manufacturers including Boeing were the fund’s intended recipients but balked at the terms and did not apply. Instead, the 11 companies that have tapped the fund so far include a company that has pitched its products as an enabling technology for the facial recognition tracking of immigrants, a manufacturer of roadblock barriers and surveillance firms.
One company that received a loan is an experimental spaceflight technology firm backed by deep-pocketed venture capital investors. Others have a history of financial losses. One manufacturer relies on minimum-wage prison labor to make wire harnesses for military and commercial customers.
“The most important information to be transparent about is why these firms deserve these funds,” said Mandy Smithberger, a defense industry analyst at the Project on Government Oversight. “Understanding that these are limited funds, why were these companies the priorities?”
-snip-
Millions of dollars have gone to an experimental spaceflight firm backed by venture capital, companies with a history of financial losses and an Arkansas manufacturer that relies on prison labor
By Yeganeh Torbati and Aaron Gregg
11/25/2020, 6:00:50 a.m.
The Trump administration has used a $17 billion loan fund meant for businesses critical to U.S. national security to help a hodgepodge of little-known companies with unclear importance to national defense, and the fund remains mostly unspent nearly eight months after Congress approved it as part of a $2 trillion stimulus bill.
Aircraft manufacturers including Boeing were the fund’s intended recipients but balked at the terms and did not apply. Instead, the 11 companies that have tapped the fund so far include a company that has pitched its products as an enabling technology for the facial recognition tracking of immigrants, a manufacturer of roadblock barriers and surveillance firms.
One company that received a loan is an experimental spaceflight technology firm backed by deep-pocketed venture capital investors. Others have a history of financial losses. One manufacturer relies on minimum-wage prison labor to make wire harnesses for military and commercial customers.
“The most important information to be transparent about is why these firms deserve these funds,” said Mandy Smithberger, a defense industry analyst at the Project on Government Oversight. “Understanding that these are limited funds, why were these companies the priorities?”
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/25/boeing-national-security-bailout-loans/
