Trump Administration Overrode Pentagon on Trucker’s $700 Million Pandemic Aid, Panel Says – By Lydia O’Neal (Wall Street Journal) / April 27, 2022
A House oversight panel said Trump administration appointees overrode the objections of career officials at the Defense Department to approve a $700 million pandemic-relief loan for trucker Yellow Corp.
The administration approved the loan in 2020 on terms that violated the Cares Act, the sprawling financial package that Congress passed in March 2020 to help businesses withstand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Democratic-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said in a report released Wednesday.
Subcommittee Chair James Clyburn (D, S.C.) planned to ask the Treasury Department inspector general to investigate whether Yellow, one of the country’s largest trucking companies, violated federal law, such as by making false claims when applying for the loan, according to a statement accompanying the report.
“Political appointees risked hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds against the recommendations of career DoD officials and in clear disregard of provisions of the Cares Act intended to protect national security and American taxpayers,” Mr. Clyburn said in the statement.
