At least 68 Florida construction companies with government contracts received PPP loans

Treasury Department.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Government auditors and watchdog groups have had a lot to look into regarding the exhausted Payroll Protection Program — which handed forgivable loans to companies amid the coronavirus pandemic — including whether government contractors should have been allowed to take the money.

A Wall Street Journal analysis found that several companies judged themselves eligible for the loans despite working on active government projects, a move which has prompted some criticism. "If you had contracts on the books and were being paid and were in a strong financial situation, you shouldn't have taken the money," said Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan government-spending watchdog.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.