Charles Payne rips big banks for pushing small businesses to ‘back of the queue’ for COVID-19 relief funds
April 28, 2020 / By Talia Kaplan | Fox News
Fox Business host Charles Payne reacted on Tuesday to the fact that dozens of publicly traded companies and even some communities tapped government-funded rescue programs amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“The powerful, the rich, those who didn’t really need the money, got the money,” he said.
Payne made the comment on “Fox & Friends” after a new analysis revealed that more than 200 publicly traded companies had applied to get funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was created by Congress to help small businesses navigate the unprecedented crisis.
At least 222 public companies received forgivable loans totaling more than $870 million through the PPP, according to Washington D.C.-based data analytics firm FactSquared.
Some of those public companies, including restaurant chain Shake Shack, have already returned the loan it received from the U.S. government.
Payne referenced a Crain’s Chicago Business report, which said sandwich chain Potbelly is following the lead of other large, publicly traded restaurant operators that are returning millions in federal funds following criticism from small businesses shut out of the initial round of PPP money.
