KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Small Business Administration says taxpayers could wind up on the hook for up to $1.1 million to cover a loan Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver took out to pay for a suburban Kansas City car wash.

The agency guaranteed roughly 75 percent of the 2002 Bank of America loan to the firm that owns the business, Cleaver Company LLC.

Bank of America alleged in a lawsuit filed last month that the company — along with Cleaver and his wife, Dianne — owed more than $1.46 million in principal and interest on the loan.

Cleaver’s spokeswoman didn’t immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press. But The Star reported that Cleaver has previously blamed a “business dispute” for the loan issues.

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