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And we have some revelations today about businesses that received federal funds during the early phases of the pandemic.
我们今天披露了一些在疫情早期接受联邦专项资金的企业的相关新闻。
Interesting new data is out on the Paycheck Protection Program - PPP for short.
“薪酬保障计划”(简称PPP)公布了有趣的新数据。
It gave potentially forgivable government loans to small businesses during COVID.
在新冠肺炎疫情期间，该计划向小型企业提供了可能被免除的政府贷款。
And that data shows the vast majority of those loans have been forgiven.
数据显示，绝大多数贷款已被免除。
Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR's Investigations team is here to explain why that high forgiveness rate is troubling to many people.
NPR调查小组的萨沙·法伊弗将在这里解释为什么高免除率会困扰许多人。
Sacha, people who got these loans were hoping they'd be forgiven, so what's not to like about these new numbers?
萨沙，贷款者都希望自己的贷款能被免除，所以这些新数字有什么不好呢?
So there is no doubt that these loans were a lifesaver for many companies, and anyone who got PPP funding is probably relieved to hear that 92% of all the loans have been granted full or partial forgiveness so far.
毫无疑问，这些贷款是许多公司的救星，任何获得“薪酬保障计划”拨款者可能都会获得减免，因为到目前为止，92%的贷款都获得了全额免除或部分免除。
That's according to Small Business Administration data released this month.
这是根据美国小型企业管理局本月公布的数据得出的结论。
But a lot of that money went to businesses that didn't need it, wealthy celebrities like Khloe Kardashian and Tom Brady, for example.
但很多资金都流向了不需要这笔拨款的企业，比如科勒·卡戴珊和汤姆·布雷迪等富有的名人。
They have companies that each got a PPP loan of about $1 million entirely forgiven.
他们的每个公司都获得了大约100万美元的贷款，且这些贷款都全部被免除了。
Also, many businesses that thrived during COVID got their loans forgiven, like some manufacturing and construction firms.
此外，许多在新冠肺炎疫情期间蓬勃发展的企业也获得了贷款减免，比如一些制造企业和建筑公司。
Was it legal, though, for them to take that money?
但是，它们拿走这笔资金合法吗?
Yes, it was. To qualify for a loan, you just had to say you thought you needed it, and to get it forgiven, you did not have to prove the money was necessary.
是的，合法。要获得贷款资格，你只需要表示你需要这笔贷款，而要得到减免，你不必证明这笔资金是必要的。
So that meant not only did people get loans they didn't truly need; it also attracted scam artists.
这意味着一些人不仅得到了并非真正需要的贷款; 还吸引了 许多诈骗高手。
Here's how University of Texas finance professor Sam Kruger puts it.
德克萨斯大学金融学教授山姆·克鲁格是这样说的:
The PPP program seems to have resulted in billions of dollars of fraudulent loans that have ultimately turned into grants.
“薪酬保障计划”似乎导致了数十亿美元的欺诈性贷款，这些贷款最终变成了津贴。
He estimates that $64 billion of the nearly $800 billion in loans show signs of fraud.
他估计，在近8000亿美元的贷款中，涉嫌欺诈的资金就有640亿美元。
So why wasn't the government stricter with forgiveness?
那政府为什么不对贷款减免更严格点呢?
I mean, couldn't they have tried a little bit harder to weed out the fraudsters or told a business that prospered to repay the money?
我的意思是，他们就不能努力清除骗子，或者让生意兴隆的企业偿还这笔资金吗?
I spent a lot of time asking those questions.
我花了很多时间问这些问题。
The simple answer is the government wanted to get a lot of money out there very quickly, and it was willing to accept some waste.
简单的答案是政府想要快速获得大量资金，政府愿意接受一些浪费。
It also made forgiveness easy because that's what many businesses lobbied Congress for.
政府还使贷款减免变得容易，因为这是许多企业游说国会争取的。
I want to play something a former Treasury official under President Trump said to me. His name is Michael Faulkender.
我想播放一段特朗普政府的一位前财政部官员对我说过的话。他的名字是迈克尔·福肯德。
Because PPP got up and running, we did not realize the catastrophe that could have taken place had we failed.
因为“薪酬保障计划”已经启动并在运行中，所以我们没有意识到，如果我们失败了可能会发生的灾难。
What would breadlines during a pandemic have looked like? Do we want to know?
疫情期间排队领取救济的队伍会是什么样子? 我们想知道吗?
I didn't. And so we were going to get that program up and running.
我不想知道。所以我们要启动这个计划，并让其运行。
He says the government prioritized speed over accuracy when giving out loans.
他表示政府在发放贷款时优先考虑速度而不是准确性。
Is it me or did he sound a little testy?
是我的问题，还是他听起来有点暴躁?
He sounded testy to me, too.
我觉得他听起来也有点暴躁。
I would say he was, and so was a Biden administration SBA official named Patrick Kelley.
我想说他曾是拜登政府美国小型企业管理局官员，他的名字是帕特里克·凯利。
He told me it frustrates him when his agency is criticized over the program because it was just carrying out a law passed by Congress.
他告诉我，当他所在机构因为这个计划而受到批评时，他感到沮丧，因为机构只是在执行国会通过的一项法律。
