As a former NFL head coach Bill’s packages I once said, “You are what your data says you are.”
Preston Nouri I agree and want to see Representative Mike Kelly (R-16) maintains its provisions.
The The Erie Times-News reported this that Kelly’s family car dealership, Mike Kelly Automotive Group, received a $314,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to install solar panels at the dealership in Uniontown – his home neighborhood Representative. Guy Reschenthaler (R-14).
At issue? Kelly strongly opposed this legislation.
Nouri, the Democratic candidate for Kelly’s seat, is urging the seven-term congressman to return the stipend and accusing him of “personally benefiting from taxpayers’ money.”
“Mike Kelly is showing his true colors once again,” Nouri said in a statement. “For over 13 years he has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, taking taxpayers’ money to enrich himself, acting against the interests of the people he is supposed to represent.”
In 2018, Rural Energy for America was approved under the Farm Bill and reauthorized in 2022 under President Joe Biden $740 Inflation Reduction Act.
When the Farm Bill passed, Kelly celebrated and said, “These aren’t red or blue issues – they’re red, white and blue issues.”
Four years later, his tone has changed.
“This bill is full of bad policy and wasteful spending that will ultimately worsen inflation, expand government, and hurt the middle class. “Perhaps worst of all: Democrats are weaponizing the IRS to force hard-working Americans to pay for a bill passed under one-party rule.”
The grant allows the dealership to install a 261.9 kW solar system, which is estimated to save the family-owned business approximately $27,300 annually.
Nouri says Kelly should immediately return the grant money to the federal government.
“If he really cares about taxpayers and saving money for our nation, the first thing he should do is immediately return the $315,000 to the federal government,” Nouri said.
According to the Times-News., this is not the first time an auto dealer has been the recipient of a federal taxpayer-funded program. During the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of car dealerships founded in 1953 applied for and received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loan for almost $1 million.
The loan was later written off.
Kelly’s campaign has not commented on the situation.
