Rescue of Troubled Trucking Company With White House Ties Draws Scrutiny

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON — At a virtual congressional hearing in May, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for help. A struggling trucking company in his state was on the brink of collapse and needed government support.

Eager to assist, Mnuchin assured the senator that “we will look at that specific company and see what we can do and get back to you.”

That company, YRC Worldwide, had lost more than $100 million in 2019 and was being sued by the Justice Department over claims it defrauded the federal government for a seven-year period. But six weeks after the hearing, YRC received a bailout from the Treasury Department — a $700 million loan in exchange for a 30% stake in the business. The company’s stock price soared 74%, although it has come down since.

The rescue, which was approved on the grounds that YRC was critical to national security, made the company one of the largest recipients of taxpayer money meant to support businesses and workers struggling amid the coronavirus.

It has also raised questions about whether YRC benefited from a web of connections between the company and the White House that allowed it to bypass the Trump administration’s own rules for which companies should be eligible for federal help.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rescue-troubled-trucking-company-white-121253080.html

[underpants]

1. This is bullshit

My friend in the trucking industry is beside themself on this. So the partial owner of a company gets to make the rules and direct business to the entity that they own? Even if they don’t direct new traffic towards them, they can. That’s just stinking outrageous.

Yellow has been hanging on by a thread for almost a decade. The Feds shouldn’t be in contracts with entities that could just stop existing.

[BComplex]

2. And a former executive of YRC is now the head of the post office.

Trump as usual.

[underpants]

3. Oh I didn't know that

Or,put that together. Does he own stock in Yellow? Geesh. What a mess.

[underpants]

5. DeJoy was not at Yellow. Bill Zollars (on USPS Board) was.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2020/06/usps-board-nominees-see-no-easy-answers-but-common-ground-for-postal-reform/

[crickets]

4. Friends in high places and all...

To government watchdog groups that have been tracking the Trump administration’s economic relief effort, the real question is whether a company such as YRC should live on. That is especially pertinent when difficult choices are being made about extending unemployment insurance and funding schools with personal protective equipment.

“It sends a chilling message to the American people that the Trump administration has no problem throwing nearly $1 billion to wealthy, well-connected companies like YRC, while they refuse to provide adequate assistance for the unemployed or protect workers as the pandemic worsens,” said Kyle Herrig, the president of Accountable.US.