Several Republican senators are demanding detailed information about the federal funds allocated to Planned Parenthood during the COVID-19 pandemic. Citing concerns over the use of taxpayer money, GOP lawmakers are calling for transparency regarding the financial support the organization received under pandemic relief programs to perform procedures such as abortion. This push arises amid ongoing scrutiny of how government funds were distributed and whether they were adequately allocated to essential services during the health crisis.
Senators Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have sent a letter to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler questioning Planned Parenthood's receipt of funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP was created under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 to help businesses impacted by government-imposed lockdowns.
However, it was later discovered that these funds were going toward funding abortions.
“Not a single tax dollar should fund abortions,” Ernst told the Daily Signal. “The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to help Americans struggling during the pandemic, not to go to ineligible recipients fueling abortion-on-demand.”
Ernst and Paul have consistently pressed for clarification on the approval and forgiveness of loans given to Planned Parenthood despite the organization's ineligibility for PPP funds. However, their efforts have been met with resistance and a lack of cooperation from the Biden administration.
The letter claims the SBA under the Biden administration withheld information regarding PPP funding for the abortion giant’s affiliates.
On May 19, 2020, SBA notified a number of PPFA affiliates that they had wrongfully applied for 38 PPP loans totaling more than $80 million dollars. SBA determined that these local affiliates of PPFA were ineligible for PPP loans under the applicable affiliation rules and size standards and that the loans they received should be returned. Despite this determination, the SBA, under the Biden administration, approved further loans in 2021 totaling nearly $40 million.
Over the years, we’ve repeatedly sought out this information. During a Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing on March 24, 2021, we questioned then-Associate Administrator of SBA’s Office of Capital Access, Patrick Kelley, about the new information suggesting Planned Parenthood affiliates had received second draw loans despite the agency’s previous determination that these entities were ineligible. Mr. Kelley testified that the SBA had not reversed the longstanding application of affiliation rules or changed any rule related to affiliation. Following this, we sent multiple letters on April 15, 2021, May 10, 2021, May 20, 2021, and again on April 26, 2022, requesting further information. However, SBA failed to provide the required information.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, the SBA determined that Planned Parenthood affiliates were ineligible for PPP loans, citing federal laws that prohibit funding for abortions and the extensive scale of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). The affiliates had unjustly applied for 38 PPP loans totaling more than $80 million.
This revelation comes amid the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic discovered that the Paycheck Protection Program lost roughly $64 billion to fraud.