Reality-based educator has called attention to the fact that the congress is refusing aid to individuals who have had their lives ruined by the toxic gasses they inhaled while doing reovery work at ground zero. Can't give them any welfare don't you know. On the other hand, millions are going to multinational corporations from what was supposed to be help for SMALL business. Here is the story from the New York Daily News.

With federal and state lawmakers now investigating, the Daily News has continued to unearth evidence that tens of millions of dollars in 9/11 recovery grants went to huge multinational corporations instead of the small businesses that Congress intended.

A News review of 1,000 small-business grants, conducted as part of the newspaper's ongoing investigation into New York's handling of the $21.4 billion federal 9/11 relief package, raises serious questions about whether more than 40% of those recipients would meet any definition of a small business - other than the one used by the state's economic development agency.

The latest findings include small business money going to concerns owned by 28 Fortune 500 companies - including Tyco, Archer Daniels Midland, Con Edison, Borders bookseller and Xerox. These firms received a total of $9.4 million that the state has claimed it gave to small businesses.

The grants examined by The News were among 24,000 made under the 9/11 small-business programs by the Empire State Development Corp. and its subsidiary, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

The 400 grants being questioned by The News totaled $40 million, according to records.

Other findings:

# Some $11.1 million went to the affiliates of 26 companies that reported at least $1 billion in revenue the year of the attacks, including retail giant Abercrombie & Fitch, real estate powerhouse CB Richard Ellis, and companies owned by supermarket and gasoline magnate John Catsimatidis.

# Another $5.8 million went to 19 companies with revenue between $100 million and $1 billion, which exceeds most definitions of a small business.

That list includes Central Parking, which owns parking garages nationwide, and Ark Restaurants, owner of restaurants in Washington, Las Vegas and Manhattan, including Bryant Park Grill, Canyon Road, and, at the time, Lutece.

# Another $4.3 million went to businesses controlled by 14 investment firms or banks that have assets in excess of $1 billion, including branches of some of the largest banks in Asia.

# Millions more went to large, privately held businesses, many with offices across the country, for which revenue figures are not readily available.

# Ignoring or missing who actually owned a grant applicant made giants look small. Massive real estate owners and international powerhouses were approved as if each local office or building under control was a separate mom-and-pop shop. Collecting through several subsidiaries, some even exceeded the $500,000 cap that Congress set for the programs to recoup economic losses.

Much more.