{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.toomey.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/12/10/2020/toomey-opening-statement-from-todays-congressional-oversight-commission-hearing", "Toomey Opening Statement from Todays Congressional Oversight Commission Hearing", "2020-12-10", "2020", "2020-12", "Republican", "House", "PA", "Patrick Toomey", "T000461", "www.toomey.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington,\r\nD.C.\r\nU.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), a member of the bipartisan Congressional\r\nOversight Commission, offered the following opening remarks at today's public\r\nhearing examining loans to businesses critical to maintaining national\r\nsecurity:   In\r\nMarch, unprecedented turmoil in credit markets threatened the ability of\r\nbusinesses, states, and municipalities to obtain capital. Credit markets were\r\non the verge of shutting down, and without intervention, private credit was very\r\nlikely going to stop flowing to businesses, states, and municipalities.   Congress\r\ndid not want these economic disruptions to result in gaps in our national\r\nsecurity. There was a very real concern that established national defense\r\nfirms, essential national defense firms, could even collapse. The CARES Act\r\nprogram announcement succeeded in stabilizing the markets, and averted a crisis\r\nin the national security sector. In fact, the top five national security firms\r\nraised over $40 billion in bond sales since March.   Since\r\ncreditworthy firms have generally been able to access private markets, only\r\nthose with lower grade credit, or limited access to credit in the first place,\r\nappeared to have applied for national security loans. Of the eleven businesses\r\nthat have used the national security loan program, five had negative profits in\r\n2019 before the coronavirus struck. At least three are early stage companies\r\nincluding SpinLaunch Inc., an essentially pre-revenue venture whose products\r\nare commercially unproven.   While\r\nI am glad that the national security sector is now stable, I would like to\r\nunderstand better why the Treasury made loans to what appears to be startups\r\nand what may have been, or close to a, fundamentally insolvent company like the\r\nYRCThe question in my mind is whether or not these loans adhere to the\r\ncriteria set out under the CARES Act and whether or not they were a\r\nprudent use of taxpayer funds. Watch\r\nSenator Toomey's full opening remarks here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.toomey.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/12/10/2020/toomey-opening-statement-from-todays-congressional-oversight-commission-hearing"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9074879344552755, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}