Rounds, Colleagues Urge Investigations into Improper PPP Funding for Planned Parenthood
PIERRE—U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) joined a number of his colleagues in two different letters urging full investigations into improper Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding for Planned Parenthood. The first letter, led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), was sent to Attorney General Bill Barr to urge the Department of Justice to investigate whether dozens of Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country applied for and received PPP loans despite knowing they were ineligible to apply.
A second letter, led by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), was sent to Jovita Carranza, Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), urging her to conduct a full investigation into how 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates applied for and improperly received a total of $80 million in loans from the PPP.
Under the statutory text of the CARES Act, organizations like these 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.
Excerpt of the letter to the DOJ: “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. 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,” wrote the senators.
Excerpt of the letter to the SBA: “It has come to our attention that affiliates of Planned Parenthood improperly applied for, and received loans, through the program. While we appreciate the Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) efforts to promptly cancel those loans, the circumstances under which they were made merit further investigation of possible wrongdoing,” the senators wrote. “These circumstances require a full investigation in order to determine whether there was wrongdoing, and we urge that any such misconduct be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We urge that the SBA promptly open an investigation into how these loans were made in clear violation of the applicable affiliation rules and if Planned Parenthood, relevant lenders, or staff at the SBA knowingly violated the law, and that appropriate legal action be taken if so.”
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