Ammon Bundy Got $530K Loan From Government

It turns out Ammon Bundy, the leader of a group of armed anti-government protesters currently occupying a remote government building in Oregon, is a lot more forgiving of the federal government when it's directly helping him out. CNN reports Bundy took out a $530,000 loan from the Small Business Administration for his truck maintenance company in 2010. The loan guarantee he received is meant "to aid small businesses which are unable to obtain financing in the private credit marketplace," according to Mother Jones. Bundy tells CNN the loan isn't hypocritical. "I am not anti-government," he says. "There is a role for government."

Specifically, Bundy says the government's role is to protect the will and rights of the people, CNN reports. He says his six-figure loan is OK because it "was an effort in assisting the people in using their rights." According to Mother Jones, the government estimates Bundy's loan could cost taxpayers $22,419. Records don't indicate if Bundy has repaid the loan. And NPR points out Bundy's family hasn't paid any of the more than $1 million it owes for grazing cattle on government land. Bundy and his supporters took over a building in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday. A statement released that day accuses the government of stealing land and resources from citizens. "The statement did not mention the Small Business Administration and the taxpayer-funded assistance it provided to Ammon Bundy," writes Mother Jones. (More Ammon Bundy stories.)