This weekend, the New York Times reported that millions of dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program designated for small business relief “flowed to China” through subsidiaries of state-owned or invested firms operating in the U.S, a bombshell revelation that puts Senator Tillis in a very awkward position.

Tillis and his Washington allies have repeatedly attacked a North Carolina small business for taking PPP loans, including through ads so false TV stations refused to air them. Tillis has also been “posing as a China hawk” in a desperate election-year effort to rewrite his record after being weak on China over his career.

Now that both have collided, where is Tillis’ outrage over the hundreds of millions of dollars that have flowed to Chinese-backed companies?

According to the analysis, “$192 million to $419 million has gone to more than 125 companies that Chinese entities own or invest in” even as the U.S. unemployment rate remains at historic high. At the same time, small businesses across North Carolina continue to shutter.

“Does Senator Tillis think Chinese-owned companies should be receiving funds meant to help small business stay afloat?,” NCDP spokesperson Robert Howard said. “His selective outrage over PPP loans and his election year tough talk on China continue to reveal that his flailing attacks and empty rhetoric are just more political posturing from one of the country’s most vulnerable Senators.”

New York Times: U.S. Small Business Bailout Money Flowed to Chinese-Owned Companies
By Alan Rappeport
August 2, 2020

Key Points:

• President Trump has blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, but as the White House looks to stabilize small businesses in the United States, the rescue effort has had an unintended beneficiary: Chinese companies.

• Millions of dollars of American taxpayer money have flowed to China from the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program that was created in March to be a lifeline for struggling small businesses in the United States. But because the economic relief legislation allowed American subsidiaries of foreign firms to receive the loans, a substantial chunk of the money went to America’s biggest economic rival, a new analysis shows.

• According to a review of publicly available loan data by the strategy consulting firm Horizon Advisory, $192 million to $419 million has gone to more than 125 companies that Chinese entities own or invest in. Many of the loans were quite sizable; at least 32 Chinese companies received loans worth more than $1 million, with those totaling as much as $180 million.

Read the full report online here.