Posts tagged Small Business Administration
(I4AW) Report Shows Extent of Tax Dollars Spent on Public-Sector Unionism
January 17, 2025 // After the last official report was compiled in 2019, the OPM stopped reporting the hours and costs involved in union-related “official time” despite repeated calls from House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx for President Trump’s 2018 Executive Order to be honored. Pushback continued in 2023 when Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) directed a letter to the OPM querying why the website reporting page went missing in July of that year, only to be told the site was undergoing “maintenance”. In March of last year, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduced legislation entitled the Taxpayer-Funded Union Time Transparency Act which called on a return to reporting on the part of the OPM regarding time spent on collective bargaining. In August, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced a bill entitled the No Union Time on the Taxpayer’s Dime Act to curtail union activities by federal employees during work hours. All these attempts to increase transparency for taxpayers were roadblocked by Democrats in Congress and even now, the site still has not re-emerged – making I4AW’s report even more critical.
Let’s Address the Real Challenges for Independent Contractors and Gig Workers
February 5, 2024 // Self-employment fell by 10.5 percent on average for non-exempt occupations, while overall employment fell by 4.4 percent on average for non-exempt occupations Occupations with a greater prevalence of self-employed workers saw greater reductions in both self-employment and overall employment In other words, on average, 1 in 10 self-employed individuals may have lost self-employment opportunities in California among occupations not exempt from AB5, while there is no evidence of an accompanying increase in traditional employment opportunities among workers in non-exempt occupations.
SBA OFFICIALS PLEAD IGNORANCE OF UNION RELATED COVID RELIEF FRAUD
October 19, 2022 // SBA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report on Sept. 26, the stated objective of which was to “determine whether PPP loans to nonprofit organizations were made in accordance with eligibility requirements.” Since unions were categorically excluded from the program as 501(c)(5) nonprofits, and since the Freedom Foundation filed a formal complaint with the SBA OIG back in February based on its findings, the report would have been an excellent opportunity to address the issue. Unfortunately, the OIG report only analyzed more traditional 501(c)(3) nonprofits that may have been too large to qualify for PPP funds, leaving unions out of the analysis
Op-ed: Small Business Administration should fight for entrepreneurs, not unions
June 24, 2022 // Nonetheless, a recent Freedom Foundation analysis of SBA’s PPP loan database identified 223 loans totaling $36.1 million made to labor unions and related organizations between March 2020 and March 2021 that, as mostly 501(c)(5) nonprofit groups, were not eligible to participate in the program. The recipient list included a dozen teachers unions and advocacy groups, such as the Michigan Education Association and the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association, ironically among the fiercest champions of lockdown policies, the effects of which PPP funds were intended to alleviate. Alabama State Employees Association, Maryland Public Employees Council, Alaska AFL-CIO, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, Isabel Guzman, Small Business Committee,
How did $1.2M in PPP loans get to Pennsylvania unions? Congressional Republicans want to know
April 18, 2022 // The PPP loans were made quickly by the Small Business Administration in the early days of the pandemic to avoid mass layoffs. Yet the speed in which $800 billion of taxpayer money was doled out left the program liable to waste, fraud, and abuse. An NBC News investigation estimated the cost of fraud at $80 billion, or 10% of the overall fund. That’s in addition to a $900 billion COVID-19 relief fund that may have been defrauded of $90 billion-$400 billion.
Report: Unions Collected Millions in Federal COVID Relief They Weren’t Eligible for While Cheerleading Lockdowns
March 2, 2022 // And, to top it off, a recent Freedom Foundation report documents how as many as 226 forgivable loans totaling $36.7 million were provided to labor unions and related organizations that were apparently ineligible for the funds.
Labor Unions Took $37 Million Of Ineligible COVID Relief From Government
February 3, 2022 // Hundreds of labor unions that were ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a $953 billion business loan program through the federal government launched in March 2020, raked in $36.7 million in forgivable loans, according to a new report.
Labor Unions Received $36.7M in PPP Loan Fraud
February 3, 2022 // Labor unions that were deemed ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) received $36.7 million in fraudulent loans, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Labor Unions Collected $37 Million in COVID Relief They Were Ineligible To Receive
February 2, 2022 // The Paycheck Protection Program launched in March 2020 to provide relief to small businesses and charities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But 226 labor unions that were ineligible for the program received $36.7 million in forgivable loans, according to a report provided exclusively to the Washington Free Beacon.
California Union Uses Loophole To Pocket COVID Relief Funds, Labor Experts Say
December 28, 2021 // UNITE HERE Local 11's nonprofit affiliate took PPP loans as it hired union staff