Sen. Marshall Demands Investigation into Planned Parenthood Affiliates’ Unlawful PPP Participation

(Washington, D.C., April 16, 2021) – Today, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall issued the following statement after joining his colleagues in sending letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General Mike Ware, and SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman requesting their immediate attention and investigation into the unlawful participation of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

“The Paycheck Protection Program was created to provide struggling small businesses with much needed federal assistance, not provide booming abortion mills with extra cash on hand,” said Senator Marshall. “It is unacceptable the SBA has not only failed to reclaim the unlawful disbursement of taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood affiliates, but continues to approve additional loans to the abortion industry. The Biden Administration has repeatedly disregarded the American public’s moral repulsion to abortions and insists on providing support, despite clear Congressional opposition.”

BACKGROUND:

In May of 2020, SBA notified a number of Planned Parenthood affiliates that they had wrongfully applied for 38 PPP loans totaling more than $80 million. SBA determined that these local affiliates were ineligible for the loans under the applicable affiliation rules, and that the loans they received should be returned. On May 19, 2020, SBA determined that 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. SBA cited the control PPFA exercised over its local affiliates in a number of different areas, such as medical standards, affiliate patient transfers, and an accreditation review process administered every three years as evidence of an affiliated organizational structure. Given that PPFA has nearly 16,000 employees nationwide, SBA determined that these PPFA affiliates were ineligible for PPP and requested that each of the 38 affiliates return the $80 million in PPP funds they wrongfully received.

“On March 23, 2021, SBA provided the Senate Small Business Committee with an updated dataset on all PPP loans as of March 14, 2021,” the Senators wrote. “This data revealed that, not only have most of the PPFA affiliates not returned their PPP funds, as requested by SBA, but two have applied for and been approved for a second draw loan, with full knowledge of their ineligibility. Earlier this week SBA released updated data indicating that even more PPFA affiliates have been approved for PPP loans in the last month. According to the most recent SBA data, at least one additional PPFA affiliate was approved for a second draw loan since March 15, 2021. Additionally, another PPFA affiliate recently applied for and was approved for a first draw loan, despite the fact that the entity had previously returned its loan after SBA determined it was ineligible for PPP.”

Click HERE to read the full letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Garland.

Click HERE to read the full letter sent to the Inspector General of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Click HERE to read the full letter sent to the Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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