Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) is asking the U.S. Small Business Administrator Jovita Carranza to ensure that Planned Parenthood affiliates do not receive forgivable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The nation’s largest abortion provider fraudulently received loans from the program intended for small businesses struggling with burdens from coronavirus, to the tune of $80 million, during the rollout.
Thirty other GOP Senators join Cotton in urging accountability for the PPP program, and point out that Planned Parenthood is ineligible to receive loans from the taxpayer-funded program.
“Generally speaking, applicants for the initial waves of PPP loans had to employ no more than 500 employees across all of their affiliates in order to be eligible for a loan; applicants for a second-draw loan must have no more than 300 employees across all of their affiliates,” the lawmakers wrote. “Planned Parenthood employs about 16,000 people nationwide. The group’s national organization, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, jealously exercises control over local affiliates, subjecting them to uniform bylaws, accreditation, frequent reviews, and mandates about what services they must provide to remain part of the Federation, such as on-site abortion. Planned Parenthood affiliates thus are ineligible to receive PPP loans, as part of an affiliated group that employs far more people than the number allowed for an initial or second-draw PPP loan. This fact was admitted by none other than Planned Parenthood’s political-action committee, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which wrote that the CARES Act ‘gives the Small Business Administration broad discretion to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates and other non-profits serving people with low incomes and deny them benefits under the new small business loan program.’”
At least 37 affiliates of Planned Parenthood received forgivable loans from the program, despite not qualifying via the set standards. The Senators also ask for "appropriate penalties" for Planned Parenthood employees who broke the law.