PPP Loans Provided Lots Of Cash Assistance With Few Questions Asked

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Payroll Protection Program was enacted during the pandemic to provide financial assistance to businesses that were closed, or operating at a reduced capacity. An NPR investigation finds the program was rife with fraud and most of the loans have been forgiven.

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, investigative correspondent Sacha Pfeiffer, and political correspondent Susan Davis.

This episode was produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It was edited by Casey Morell. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Research and fact-checking by Devin Speak.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Katie. I'm driving with my family up I 39 North because we're moving from Louisiana back to our home state of Wisconsin
0:08.4	This podcast was recorded at 12.42 p.m. on Thursday, January 19th
0:15.4	Things may have changed by the time you hear this, but we'll still be looking forward to celebrating Martigra in the middle of Wisconsin winter
0:22.4	Go Tigers and go Badgers. I
0:24.8	I
0:28.4	Love me a good road trip. She seems in good spirits, but man, I do not like moving. I don't like moving, but I do love the road trip part of it
0:36.6	I'm just I just I'm a sucker for road trips. Hey there. It's the NPR politics podcast
0:42.3	I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House and I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics in the early days of the pandemic when the
0:49.0	Economy was in free fall and businesses were closing and uncertainty was off the charts the federal government stepped in to help out the paycheck
0:58.2	Protection program PPP loaned businesses money so they keep paying their employees those loans in theory could be forgiven and most of them
1:07.1	Have been but a new NPR investigation shows that some of the loans that have been forgiven
1:12.9	Maybe shouldn't have been Sasha Fyfer is here from NPR's investigations desk to tell us more hi Sasha. Hi
1:20.8	So Sasha PPP was created by Congress the thought was
1:26.8	Businesses aren't making money rather than employees being laid off and then having to apply for unemployment insurance
1:32.6	Just send the businesses money to pay their workers keep the economy afloat
1:37.6	So how did the program end up working how did businesses apply to get this money?
1:43.7	So businesses had to go to banks and the two of you probably remember that banks just got day-loved
1:49.7	They were inundated by people who wanted paycheck protection program loans
1:54.3	So day-loved that they ended up allowing financial technology companies
1:59.2	Also to give loans these are companies like cabbage and Wompley these I've never heard of those
2:03.9	Yeah, so they think these high tech companies they basically automate financial services and a lot of the big banks at first
2:10.4	We're just serving really established customers and a lot of small businesses and businesses run by people of color
	...

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