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Today, the Texas Tribune reported that hypocritical GOP candidate Monica De La Cruz took thousands of dollars in COVID relief funding after calling pandemic aid legislation “socialist” and claiming she was “very sad” that it was signed into law.
Monica De La Cruz was tweeting against the bill with one hand and filling out the loan application papers with the other. Before her bitter divorce that hinged on allegations of her abusive behavior, De La Cruz and her husband collected nearly $200,000 from funding allocated for small businesses.
It was also revealed that De La Cruz took nearly $40,000 in a Paycheck Protection Program loan for her insurance company intended to go toward payroll for five employees — but that her company reportedly shuttered during the pandemic, raising questions about if the loan actually went toward payroll or just into De La Cruz’s own pockets.
De La Cruz rallied against the PPP loan program for political reasons but decided to take thousands from the program for her own business: “Do as I say, not as I do.”
Read more:
Texas Tribune: Congressional candidate Monica De La Cruz disparaged COVID-19 aid despite taking thousands of dollars for her businesses
By Matthew Choi
August 22, 2022
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Monica De La Cruz, a firebrand Republican running in a fiercely competitive South Texas race, received thousands of dollars for personal business interests from federal COVID relief programs despite disparaging federal assistance programs as harmful to the U.S. economy.
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De La Cruz reported herself in disclosure forms as president of JSM De La Cruz Holdings, which generated for her rental income in the $100,001 to $1 million bracket in 2020. The firm received a $1,000 Economic Injury Disaster grant in May 2020 as well as a $39,000 loan.
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De La Cruz also co-owned Navi Business Group with her then-husband, reporting $36,000 in spousal income in 2020. The firm received $4,000 in an Economic Injury Disaster Grant in April 2020 and a $98,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan in May of that year. De La Cruz and her husband have since separated in a bitter divorce involving allegations against her of abusive behavior toward his daughter. De La Cruz rejected the allegations.
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Two years later during a January candidate forum, De La Cruz blasted President Joe Biden’s pandemic relief package, the American Rescue Plan, as causing “higher prices” and the “destruction of small businesses.” The American Rescue Plan Act appropriated $15 billion toward the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
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Another of De La Cruz’s businesses, DLC Insurance, was approved for a $38,552 Paycheck Protection Program loan back on April 29, 2020, intended to support five jobs at the firm. But the firm was ultimately shuttered during the pandemic, according to a March report from NBC News. De La Cruz, who listed her title as president of the company on disclosure forms, reported making $44,600 in income from DLC Insurance that year. The PPP loan was forgiven, including interest.
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Calls by The Texas Tribune to a number listed with her insurance agency went unanswered.
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“Monica De La Cruz raged against relief funding for Texas small businesses, but what she didn’t mention was that she and her family happily took nearly $200,000 of that same aid for themselves. Her hypocritical agenda of ‘Help for me, but not for thee’ is politics at its worst and South Texans deserve better,” said Monica Robinson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
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