News

The Misadventures of Moscow Mitch: KDP: McConnell’s In-Laws Get Government Bailout While Kentuckians Struggle During COVID-19

Berry Craig
Social share icons
mitchie.jpg

By KENNY COLSTON

Kentucky Democratic Party

Frankfort, KY — As Kentuckians were struggling financially in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mitch McConnell’s family applied and received up to $1 million in government loans from a program meant for small businesses. 

Newsweek reported late Monday that Foremost Group, a shipping company founded and run by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s family, received between $350,000 and $1 million in forgivable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program. Chao is married to McConnell. 

The company applied for the loan just one week before McConnell infamously declared that states should go bankrupt rather than receive the same federal assistance his in-laws were receiving. 

As the New York Times reported in June 2019, McConnell’s in-laws are major campaign donors to his re-election, including giving maximum donation limits as recently as March 30 2020, just two weeks before Foremost applied for their PPP loan. The company also helped increase McConnell’s and Chao’s wealth as they received gifts from Chao’s family. 

The revelation comes as McConnell continues to drag his feet on another round of federal assistance. He has ignored calls for another round of direct stimulus payments and is currently leaving Kentucky’s state budget with a $1.1 billion shortfall, which Gov. Andy Beshear said would mean 16 to 29 percent cuts to the state budget without federal help. That would mean drastic cuts to public education, public health and other vital services in the middle of a pandemic.  

“Mitch McConnell’s family is sitting pretty while Kentuckians are struggling. It’s just the most glaring example that Mitch McConnell does not care about Kentucky and no amount of staged events will prove otherwise,” Kentucky Democratic Party spokesperson Marisa McNee said. “Kentucky deserves a leader like Amy McGrath who is willing to stand up for them, and in November they will make their voices heard.”