Senators Urge DOJ to Investigate Planned Parenthood Affiliates That Accepted $80 Million in PPP Funding They Weren’t Eligible For
A number of United States Senators are calling on U.S. Attorney General Bill Bar to investigate Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country.
The 26 Senators say the affiliates applied for and accepted a reported $80 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) despite knowing they were ineligible to apply.
Under the statuary text of the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery and Economic Stability (CARES) Act, organizations like the Planned Parenthood affiliates were expressly prohibited from receiving PPP funds. Additionally, the Small Business Administration confirmed last month that its standing affiliation rules apply to the new PPP, which excludes organizations like Planned Parenthood that employ its type of governance and affiliation structure and exceed the cap on total employees.
“The Paycheck Protection Program established by the CARES Act was designed by Congress to help struggling small businesses and nonprofit organizations by giving them access to low-cost loans for expenses like keeping their employees on payroll during this pandemic,” the letter says. “It was not designed to give government funds to politicized, partisan abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. The funds in the program are not unlimited, and were depleted once already because of high demand. Planned Parenthood fraudulently taking tens of millions of dollars that were intended to help keep those small businesses and nonprofit organizations afloat cannot stand and must be addressed.”
Georgia’s Senators – Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue joined U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Kennedy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).
Read the full letter below.
Cotton Letter
