Sen. Rand Paul Offers STOCK Act Amendment To Ban Obama-Style Cronyism for Federal Loans

On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) fired a frontal assault on the Obama Administration when he took to the floor of the Senate to offer a series of amendments to the congressional insider trading bill known as the STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act designed to “bring an end to the revolving door between federal employees and companies lobbying for federal funding or loans,” reads a press release from Sen. Paul’s office.

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In his Senate speech, Sen. Paul singled out the Obama Administration’s approval of billions of dollars of so-called green energy loans and grants, 80 percent of which went to companies connected to or owned by President Obama’s fundraisers, supporters, or bundlers:

Currently there are some large donors that have been giving to this Administration who have profited enormously and disproportionately.

This will allow this bill to apply to the Administration, and I don’t believe people who are multimillionaires and billionaires should use the apparatus of government as was used in the loans that were given to Solyndra by someone who is profiting off of their relationship and ties to the President, profiting off of people who used to work for these companies now, who are now employed in the administration and using these connections to get taxpayer money to go to private individuals.

This is wrong and this should stop.

I think this bill is a great vehicle for discussing how people in government are abusing their roles in government to make more money at the expense of the taxpayer.

And I think it should end.

Sen. Rand’s press release cites examples familiar to readers of Breitbart editor Peter’s Schweizer’s New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, including: Solyndra, BrightSource Energy, Tesla Motors, and Granite Reliable Wind Generation.

Sen. Rand said the rationale for his amendments to bar politically-connected businesses from scoring taxpayer-funded loans and grants is simple: “people should not profit off of their involvement in government. They shouldn’t profit off of special relationships. They shouldn’t profit off of special knowledge they gain in the function of serving the people.”