Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy criticized student loan borrowers after having $781,000 of debt forgiven

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to kill the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy voiced his support for the decision despite having over $781,000 of his own company’s loans forgiven. On June 30, the Supreme Court delivered a 6-3 decision in the Biden v. Nebraska case, which ruled that the Department of Education does not have the authority to cancel student loan debt. Namely, it canceled President Joe Biden’s plan from last August to cancel up to $10,000 of debt per borrower, with up to another $10,000 for Pell Grant recipients. Many Republicans praised the decision, which was decided by the six conservative appointed justices on the court. Sheehy was one of these supporters when he took to Twitter to remind those who take out loans that they need to pay them back.

This week was a good reminder why it’s so important to have strong constitutional justices serving on the Supreme Court: ✅Merit and character over color of your skin ✅Protect free speech ✅Take a loan, pay it back

— Tim Sheehy (@SheehyforMT) July 1, 2023

Sheehy is the founder and CEO of the aerial firefighting and wildfire management company Bridger Aerospace. According to ProPublica, Bridger received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan of $774,300 in April 2020. This loan was entirely forgiven at $781,895 (interest included), despite the company receiving dozens of government contracts, some of them after the PPP funding boost. Companies like Bridger, whose payroll largely come from federal contracts, were told to forego forgiveness by the Small Business Administration. A report by USA Today suggested companies like Bridger Aerospace “double dipping” with PPP loans and government contracts is an unchecked pattern of companies who received loans during the COVID pandemic. Given Bridger Aerospace generates most of its revenue from government contracts, Sheehy’s bid for the U.S. Senate is also drawing ethics concerns over conflict of interest. Sheehy is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who announced his intentions to run for the U.S. Senate in June. He will likely face U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale in the GOP primary, who ran and lost against Jon Tester (D) in 2018.