During the December 5 broadcast of his show, Newsradio 850 KOA host Mike Rosen inaccurately claimed that “the government didn't bail out the airline industry” after 9-11. When a caller later questioned Rosen about this claim, Rosen conceded that after the 9-11 attacks "[t]here was a partial subsidy for some airlines ... [b]ut not what I would call a bailout." In fact, as BusinessWeek reported on October 8, 2001, “Less than two weeks after terrorists hijacked and crashed four commercial jets on Sept. 11, Congress opened up the Treasury to the airline industry ... The bailout was aimed at making the airlines whole -- in effect, turning back the clock to Sept. 10.” Moreover, according to a May 5, 2003, commentary (“Airline Bailout II: This Approach Won't Fly”) by James L. Gattuso, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, in April 2003 Congress again “bail[ed] out the ailing airline industry ... with aid worth some $3.1 billion, the second airline aid package in two years.”

Rosen and the caller had been discussing real-estate foreclosures, which, the Rocky Mountain News reported that day, reached record levels in the Denver metro area in 2006. The caller noted that the government had bailed out the airline industry and proposed that “the government institute” a mortgage refinancing bailout program for homeowners.

CALLER: You know -- at the same point in time, you know, it's really not the government's fault that the airline industry went down, but yet we were able to bail out the airline industry and I'd -- I'd just like to see the government institute programs -- maybe a monthlong deal where they would give people an opportunity to refinance at a certain rate but only on a fixed rate.

ROSEN: Yeah. Sorry.

CALLER: That would kind of be my solution even though it's probably not going to happen.

ROSEN: I'm not interested in that; I'd flatly oppose it. And by the way, the government didn't bail out the airline industry. Plenty of airlines have gone under, as you well know.

However, as CNN reported in a September 24, 2001, article titled “Congress approves $15 billion airline bailout,” the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act of 2001 "[gave] the nation's airlines $5 billion in immediate cash assistance and $10 billion in loan guarantees" and was lauded by White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer as legislation that “will help ensure the safety and stability of the nation's vital commercial airline system.”

Similarly, Gattuso's 2003 commentary, distributed by the Knight Ridder/Tribune news wire, stated, “As U.S troops rushed into Baghdad last month, American politicians rushed toward a very different objective: Bailing out the ailing airline industry. Hard hit by a quartet of calamities -- recession, terrorism, war and SARS -- airline executives warned of financial catastrophe. Congress quickly responded with aid worth some $3.1 billion, the second airline aid package in two years.”

The aviation assistance was contained in an “emergency wartime supplemental appropriations” bill, enacted on April 16, 2003.

Hours later in Rosen's show, when another caller noted that the federal government had given a $15 billion bailout to the airline industry after 9-11, Rosen downplayed the aid as “a partial subsidy for some airlines” and noted that it “wasn't enough to keep them all in business.”

From the December 5 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Mike Rosen Show:

CALLER: I have a comment for you about the mortgage issue.

ROSEN: Yeah.

CALLER: I'm kind of in that same situation where I took a low-interest ARM rate and it's ratcheting up every year and -- it's not really the government's fault that people got themselves involved in a 300 thousand-dollar house if they could only afford 250.

ROSEN: When you say it's not really the government's fault -- it's not in any way, shape, or form the government's --

CALLER: Absolutely --

ROSEN: -- fault.

CALLER: Absolutely.

ROSEN: OK.

CALLER: You know -- at the same point in time, you know, it's really not the government's fault that the airline industry went down, but yet we were able to bail out the airline industry, and I'd -- I'd just like to see the government institute programs -- maybe a monthlong deal where they would give people an opportunity to refinance at a certain rate but only on a fixed rate.

ROSEN: Yeah. Sorry.

CALLER: That would kind of be my solution even though it's probably not going to happen.

ROSEN: I'm not interested in that; I'd flatly oppose it. And by the way, the government didn't bail out the airline industry. Plenty of airlines have gone under, as you well know.

CALLER: Absolutely.

ROSEN: Including United, that went into bankruptcy, but they're not under just yet. However, a lot of United employees who had thought they'd do very well on what United promised as a pension plan obviously aren't doing nearly so well. A lot of United employees who had United stock saw that stock go down, and the government didn't bail them out either. And shouldn't.

[...]

CALLER: Well, someone had called you and asked about the federal bailout of the airline industry, and you implied that that did not occur after 9/11.

ROSEN: I talked about all of the airlines that have gone bankrupt, indicating that there's no blanket bailout.

CALLER: They did get a bailout, of 15 billion dollars.

ROSEN: Apparently that wasn't enough to keep them all in business, was it?

CALLER: But they did get a bailout.

ROSEN: There was a partial subsidy for some airlines, yes. But not what I would call a bailout. No.

CALLER: OK.

ROSEN: And when you make bail, you've got to make all the bail. If you only make some of the bail, you're still in jail.

CALLER: It kept them in business for awhile.

ROSEN: It kept some in business for awhile. It didn't keep others in business at all.