Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and other republicans sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Inspector General Mike Ware, and SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman calling them to investigate whether Planned Parenthood Federation of America applied for PPP loans, despite their ineligibility to receive government aid.
Republicans, citing the CARES Act passed last year, said PPP eligibility is limited to entities with 500 or fewer employees. The senators also cited prior Small Business Administration regulations, saying it establishes that a size of an entity is considered in order to determine eligibility. The senators called for a full DOJ investigation as well as an audit from the SBA inspector general.
The vice president of government relations and public policy for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Jacqueline Ayers, said that these were “baseless political attacks.” To obtain a PPP loan, an applicant must certify that they are eligible to receive a loan under the rules in effect at the time the application is submitted. The GOP senators went on to cite SBA data from May 2020. The Small Business Administration notified a number of PPFA affiliates that they had wrongfully applied for 38 PPP loans, totaling more than $80 million dollars. PPFA has nearly 16,000 employees nationwide, and because of its size they should be ineligible for the loans including its affiliates. Fortunately Senator Paul prevented the Senate Coronavirus relief package from including provisions that would allow Planned Parenthood to receive assistance from the Paycheck Protection Program.
Democrats wanted the relief bill to include provisions to help fund their radical agenda on the taxpayers dime as always. PPP is meant to help individuals and small businesses, not large organizations. The GOP should continue to press for the probe on the wrongdoings of Planned Parenthood in order to have transparency with the money being spent on relief.
