More than two dozen Republican senators are urging the Justice Department to look into Planned Parenthood receiving “improper” loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.
The lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, wrote in a Thursday letter to Attorney General William Barr that the organization was prohibited from receiving coronavirus relief funds but got millions of dollars in low-cost loans anyway.
“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,” they wrote. “It was not designed to give government funds to politicized, partisan abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.”
The letter cited a statement released by Planned Parenthood’s political action committee that claimed the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers used the CARES Act to push an anti-abortion agenda.
“The bill gives the Small Business Administration broad discretion to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates and other non-profits serving people with low incomes and deny them benefits under the new small business loan program,” the statement read.
The senators referred to that line to suggest that the organization knew it was not eligible to receive loans.
“Based on these statements, it seems clear that Planned Parenthood knew that it was ineligible for the small business loans under the CARES Act long before its affiliates fraudulently self-certified that they were eligible. As you know, fraudulent loan applications can trigger both civil and criminal penalties,” they argued.
Planned Parenthood has been at the center of a decadeslong partisan battle of whether it should receive federal funding for its services. The organization is the country’s largest abortion provider but also offers other healthcare services for many uninsured or underinsured people.
Fox News reported on Tuesday that the Small Business Administration is demanding 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates that received about $80 million in loans return the money to the federal government. The administration is reaching out to each affiliate, explaining that larger organizations with more than 500 employees aren’t eligible for PPP loans. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America employs more than 600 people.
