President Donald Trump is "absolutely right" with his call for Harvard University to return money it obtained through the CARES Act, Sen. John Barrasso said Wednesday.
"Harvard shouldn't be getting all of this money," the Wyoming Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "The focus of the CARES Act is to rescue the American economy at a time when we are under attack from a disease."
According to initial reports, Harvard netted almost $9 million in aid through the Paycheck Protection Program, and Trump said Tuesday it will pay back the money, as it shouldn't take it.
Harvard said it got the grant through the educational relief program that was part of the $2.3 trillion stimulus bill, and it would not be returning it, as it plans to "direct 100% of the funds to financial assistance to students, and will not be using any of the funds to cover institutional costs."
Barrasso said his focus has been on hospitals as well as small businesses, and additional money needed put in the Paycheck Protection plan, and that's what happened.
"What I support is getting Americans back to work. We need to do it safely, do it smartly and use science," said Barrasso, adding that in Wyoming there are several communities that fit into the first phase of the guidelines that the White House has put in place for reopening the economy.
"People want to get back to work and back to their normal lives," said Barrasso. "As long as we can do it safely we need to move in that direction sooner rather than later."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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