Free Republic

The U.S. House has passed legislation barring all noncitizens, except permanent residents from acquiring Small Business Administration loans. The American Entrepreneurs First Act of 2025, which passed in a 217-190 vote Friday, would require the SBA to verify the citizenship status and age of every applicant, codifying reforms recently implemented by the agency. If the bill passes the Senate and becomes law, the SBA will permanently exclude illegal immigrants, refugees and asylees, visa holders, DACA recipients or nonimmigrants from obtaining taxpayer-funded SBA loans. It would also disqualify companies partially or completely owned by such individuals. Co-sponsor of the bill, Rep....

The Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE) issued a new update in its ongoing audit of the Social Security Administration (SSA). This program has been a significant focus for the department, and DOGE has issued weekly updates on its findings on X. In a post about the Social Security matter made on March 12, 2025, DOGE announced a significant change to how the SSA will deal with customer service complaints meant to cut down on fraud. The investigation began when Elon Musk reacted to the massive number of Social Security numbers over 120 years old. He posted, “According to the Social...

Former left-wing congresswoman Cori Bush’s husband was charged on Thursday with defrauding the federal government to illegally collect tens of thousands of dollars in loans under COVID-era small business relief programs. Cortney Merritts, who secretly married Bush in 2023, falsified details about his purported businesses in order to obtain more than $20,000 in loans from the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021 under the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Bush represented St. Louis before suffering a primary loss last year that she blamed on the Jews. She...

The Department of Government Efficiency has been like a force of nature since Donald Trump took office and Elon Musk set the DOGE loose to uncover waste in the government. And oh, what waste and fraud they’ve found, from our funding of jihadists and extreme social justice programs overseas through USAID to the discovery of $1.9 billion that Biden’s Housing and Urban Development Department “misplaced.” We all knew that there was plenty of funny business going on, but some of what DOGE has found has been truly jaw-dropping. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop either, as DOGE announced...

Remember when Democrats insisted that they needed unlimited COVID relief funds to help “struggling Americans?” Well, guess what — millions of those dollars went to elementary school “business owners” and people who would've been alive during the Civil War. You can't make this stuff up. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) just dropped a bombshell that exposes the mind-boggling incompetence of Biden's administration. It has uncovered nearly $2 billion in "misplaced" funds at HUD, but that's just the appetizer in this feast of government waste. Here's the shocking truth: During 2020-2021, the Small Business Administration handed out 5,593 loans totaling...

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced has the agency has identified more than $300 million in COVID-era loans were granted to children. According to DOGE, they have identified that the Small Business Administration (SBA) granted almost 5,600 loans between 2020 and 2021 for $312 million to borrowers where, at the time of the loan, the listed owner was 11 years old or younger. DOGE shared on X, “In 2020-2021, SBA granted 5,593 loans for $312M to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan.” “While it is possible to have...

In one case, a 157 years old individual received $36k in loans.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, has reportedly gained access to all systems of the Small Business Administration (SBA), according to PBS on Monday. An email sent to SBA employees revealed that DOGE official Edward Coristine requested access to HR, contract, and payment systems during a call with staff. Employees were told the access was approved but were not informed by whom, and the request required immediate action for Coristine and Donald Park, advisers to DOGE. The SBA, an independent US government agency, supports small businesses and entrepreneurs by providing resources, loans, and disaster recovery...

The Small Business Administration's Disaster Relief Program has NO FUNDS. I was told this by their representative as well as from a disclaimer when you apply for a disaster loan. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is sending hundreds of millions to the Ukraine and Gaza while Florida and North Carolina are reeling from devastating hurricanes Helene and Milton. Such BS when they say they are doing everything they can. FEMA is being its usual dysfunctional self, failing TWICE to activate the Blue Roof Program, preventing rented dumpsters with storm refuse from dropping off material, leading to additional damage when the second...

WASHINGTON — Small businesses in Fayette County affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore are eligible to apply for U.S. Small Business Administration low-interest loans. Fayette is one of eight Pennsylvania counties where small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small aquaculture businesses, and private nonprofit organizations now are eligible for Economic Injury Disaster Loans, which carry interest rates of 4% (3.25% for private nonprofit organizations) and have terms of as long as 30 years. Businesses can borrow up to $2 million to pay operating expenses if their revenues dropped due to the disaster. Businesses in Maryland;...

York County didn't qualify to receive low-interest loans to help residents and businesses impacted by severe weather earlier this month. The announcement came after a federal survey team from the U.S. Small Business Administration visited the county this week to assess damage caused by tornadoes and severe storms on Aug. 7. The SBA didn't say why York County didn't qualify for assistance. The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes touched down – one in Manheim Township and the other in East Hopewell Township. Thousands of people were without power for up to a week. Some families said it will take...

From Judge Clifton Corker's opinion today in Ultima Servs. Corp. v. U.S. Dep't of Agric. (E.D. Tenn.): This case concerns whether, under the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection, Defendants the United States' Department of Agriculture ("USDA") and the Small Business Administration ("SBA") may use a "rebuttable presumption" of social disadvantage for certain minority groups to qualify them for inclusion in a federal program that awards government contracts on a preferred basis to businesses owned by individuals in those minority groups. The court generally answers this "no"; here's an excerpt, though if you're interested in the details you should read...

A new Associated Press analysis of government data suggests 10 percent of all COVID aid was lost to fraud or theft. That figure will likely grow.Over the past three years, the federal government distributed more than $4.2 trillion in aid connected to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than $400 billion of it—nearly one in every $10 spent—was either wasted or stolen, according to a new report. And that figure is likely to grow, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, "as investigators dig deeper into thousands of potential schemes." Already, prosecutors have charged more than 2,230 defendants with pandemic-related fraud crimes, the...

Federal spending jumped from $4.45 trillion in 2019 to $6.21 trillion in 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is a 40 percent increase in four years. The pandemic supercharged the federal budget, and spending and deficits are expected to continue rising unless policymakers pursue major reforms.What is all the new spending since 2019? The answer is surprising, as shown in the two tables below. The main drivers of the recent increases have not been the largest three programs—Social Security, Medicare, and defense—but rather rapid growth in numerous other programs.Table 1 shows CBO spending for 2019 and baseline estimates...

More than $250 billion in Covid-19 relief funds were lost to “fraud” and “waste,” the directors of three US government agencies testified before the House Oversight and Accountability subcommittee on Thursday. Compounding what Deputy Inspector General Sheldon Shoemaker of the Small Business Administration (SBA) called “the biggest fraud in a generation,” the officials stressed that the figures they gave represented an extremely conservative estimate of the total amount lost as they did not include the amount defrauded from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. According to a statement submitted by Shoemaker ahead of the hearing, the SBA has already uncovered $190.7...

Started 7 minutes late, lasted for 30 minutes and was basically an infomercial for the DNC. Here are the lowlights: 1. Seniors will only pay $2K a year in out of pocket prescriptions (???) 2. Climate change, climate change, climate change. 4K tax credit for buying a USED EV (LOL), Mayor of Houston spouted off about planting trees and making the city fleets EV (rolls eyes). 3. 15% minimum tax on corporations won't effect small biz BECAUSE most are pass through entities (um, yeah right) 4. Social justice and equity. The main speaker sounded like Kamala Harris and KJP combined....

Federal agents raided the offices Tuesday of a New York City police union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, and the Long Island home of its bombastic leader, who has clashed with city officials over his incendiary tweets and hard-line tactics. FBI spokesperson Martin Feely said agents were “carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation.” Along with the union’s Manhattan headquarters, agents also searched union president Ed Mullins’ home in Port Washington, Long Island, Feely said. Messages seeking comment were left with Mullins and the union. Mullins, who is also a police sergeant, is in the middle...

Nearly 3,000 approved applicants, all women and people in groups deemed most in need, were told they wouldn't get their funds following legal challenges to the selection process. By Peter Romeo on Jun. 15, 2021…… The 2,965 operators are all women, persons deemed socially and economically disadvantaged, or military veterans. They had applied for federal relief during the first 21 days of the Revitalization program, when priority was given to those groups because they were regarded as particularly in need of financial assistance. Given those developments, the SBA alerted 2,965 female and disadvantaged applicants via letter that they would not...

A former Olympian has been charged with defrauding the Small Business Administration over a pandemic loan. Luka Klasinc, a Slovenian figure skater, competed in the men's singles event at the 1992 Winter Olympics. ... ...Beginning last July, Klasinc's company received more than $1.5 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. When accounts that controlled the money started making suspicious wire transfers, Klasinc's bank froze the funds, according to the criminal complaint....

Just before the Memorial Day weekend, Senate Democrats quietly confirmed a longtime anti-Israel activist to serve on the United States Postal Service's Board of Governors, raising further questions about the Biden administration's embrace of those who serve on the front lines in the fight to delegitimize the Jewish state. Democrats confirmed by voice vote Friday evening Anton Hajjar, a longtime member of and legal adviser to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a notoriously anti-Israel organization that promotes anti-Semitic canards. The group routinely and inaccurately refers to Israel as an "apartheid state," a term meant to stoke anger at Israel, and...