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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Government watchdog Accountable.US released a new analysis finding the Trump administration awarded the private jet industry a staggering $643 million during the pandemic despite high demand for their services. The industry bailouts included $530 million in grants from the Payroll Support Program (PSP), nearly $8 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) aid, and as much as $107 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds meant for struggling small businesses.  

More egregiously, at least 49 private jet companies have been given access to all three CARES Act programs, with a total of up to $87 million in federal COVID stimulus funds between them. Meanwhile, poverty, hunger, and the risk of eviction have dramatically risen since the end of the summer. Experts have pointed to a lack of federal aid as contributing to the rapid descent of conditions. The most recent stimulus package was watered down at the insistence of Leader McConnell and administration officials, and it again failed to meet the needs of struggling small businesses, workers and states while including new wasteful tax breaks for the rich.  

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“The administration invited Trump’s rich private jet industry friends and donors to triple dip in taxpayer money as they offered only peanuts to families experiencing poverty during this public health crisis. An industry faring better than most during the pandemic should not have gotten a platinum parachute while many shuttered small businesses in communities of color couldn’t access a single dollar of relief. To see real economic recovery, the new Congress must turn the page on the Trump-McConnell mismanagement of the health crisis that made the rich richer and shortchanged those truly in need.”   

Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US

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