Pence-aligned group blasts Trump's reported Spirit Airlines rescue deal

The advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence is pushing back on the Trump administration’s reported plan to rescue Spirit Airlines, becoming the latest conservative voice to oppose the idea.

In a new memo first obtained by The Hill on Thursday, Advancing American Freedom argues that a move to bail out Spirit directly contradicts conservative ideology that government should not have any ownership in private companies. 

The group also questioned why taxpayers should bail out a company that has been “uniquely unprepared” and drew a parallel to the government program known as TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, that purchases toxic assets from financial institutions. It was signed into law by former President George W. Bush in 2008 in an effort to combat the subprime mortgage crisis. 

“American families shouldn’t be forced to bail out Spirit and the shareholders or pay the bill to see if the federal government can run an airline. Conservatives must oppose this bailout,” the group wrote. 

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Trump administration is already in the midst of negotiations about a rescue deal for the airline. 

According to the Journal, Trump met with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday to draft a plan to bring the company back from the brink of liquidation. 

Their talk resulted in a potential $500 million finance option for the airline company in exchange for warrants to purchase up to 90 percent of the new entity, people familiar with the deal told Bloomberg. 

Duffy was reportedly against the deal.

Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Tom Cotton (Ark.), two prominent GOP allies of the administration, also came out publicly against the deal. 

“This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea,” Cruz wrote in a post on social platform X. “The TARP corporate bailouts were a huge mistake & the government doesn’t know a damn thing about running a failed budget airline (that the Biden admin killed).”

When asked about the reporting on the potential bailout Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed the Biden administration for Spirit Airlines’s current financial woes. Former President Biden and his Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg opposed a proposed merger between Spirit and JetBlue in 2023. 

“Well, I understand the airline is bankrupt because the previous administration blocked the merger, which was probably not a wise move,” Leavitt told reporters. “The aviation industry is very important to this president and this White House.”