A group of Republican senators want an investigation into Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, after the organization was found to have fraudently taken loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was created to serve as a lifeline to small businesses during the pandemic.
In the Spring of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning, it was revealed that Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) utilized the PPP; the Small Business Administration (SBA) designated the loans for companies with 500 employees or fewer, but Planned Parenthood sidestepped the regulations. The fraudulent loans discovered by the SBA totaled $80 million from various Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Data from the SBA indicates that the loans have not yet been paid back, and that Planned Parenthood is still taking loans that the organization is ineligible for. GOP Sens. Rand Paul (KY), Joni Ernst (IA), Marco Rubio (FL), James Risch (ID), Josh Hawley (MO), Tim Scott (SC), James Inhofe (OK), Todd Young (IN), John Kennedy (LA), and Roger Marshall (KS) wrote to SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman, Inspector General Mike Ware, and Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s unlawful actions.
“On March 23, 2021, SBA provided the Senate Small Business Committee with an updated dataset on all PPP loans as of March 14, 2021,” the Senators wrote. “This data revealed that, not only have most of the PPFA affiliates not returned their PPP funds, as requested by SBA, but two have applied for and been approved for a second draw loan, with full knowledge of their ineligibility. Earlier this week SBA released updated data indicating that even more PPFA affiliates have been approved for PPP loans in the last month. According to the most recent SBA data, at least one additional PPFA affiliate was approved for a second draw loan since March 15, 2021. Additionally, another PPFA affiliate recently applied for and was approved for a first draw loan, despite the fact that the entity had previously returned its loan after SBA determined it was ineligible for PPP.”
Planned Parenthood already received upwards of $500 million annually in taxpayer dollars. The PPP was created to help small businesses, not corporations, alleviate burden from pandemic restrictions.
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