Did Planned Parenthood 'illegally' take $83M Covid-19 stimulus? Truth behind letter by 25 GOP senators
Twenty-five Republican senators, including Minority leader Mitch McConnell, recently sent a letter to the Small Business Administration claiming that Planned Parenthood affiliates are 'illegally' receiving the Coronavirus stimulus money. In the letter, the senators demanded a probe into why SBA is continuing to send money to Planned Parenthood despite its ineligibility.
The Senators stated that so far, the organization affiliates have received $83 million as stimulus through the Paycheck Protection Program, specifically dedicated to help support small businesses during the pandemic. The letter comes as a part of the continued GOP criticism of the money going into women's health and abortion clinics, reported Washington Examiner.
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The longstanding GOP demand against Planned Parenthood
The GOP resistance against Planned Parenthood is not new, especially concerning the PPP stimulus. In May 2020, Republican leader Mitch McConnell and a few other Republicans raised the demand for an investigation into Planned Parenthood receiving the PPP loans. 27 GOP Senator, led by Tom Cotton and McConnell, submitted a letter to the then-Attorney General William Barr, which said, "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."
In August 2020, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham wrote a similar letter to FBI Department of Justice. In January 2021, the same demand for investigating Planned Parenthood was reiterated in a letter sent to SBA by Senator Tim Scott and some of his colleagues. "It is imperative that the Paycheck Protection Program is properly administered and not a single dollar illegally goes to Planned Parenthood affiliates," Scott stated in his letter.
What does the present letter say?
Now, it appears that 25 GOP senators have approached SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman with another letter. The latest letter claims that SBA is continuing to provide funds to Planned Parenthood affiliates that were declared ineligible. Calling it 'unacceptable', the Senators mentioned that only 7 of 38 Planned Parenthood affiliated have complied with the criteria.
According to the senators, the primary point of ineligibility of Planned Parenthood for the PPP program is that they have 16,000 employees with nearly $2 billion in assets. Whereas, the PPP rules prohibit organizations with more than 500 employees from receiving the funds.
In the past, Planned Parenthood has rejected the GOP claim of ineligibility, asserting that their 'independent' affiliates were 501(c)(3) organizations that were provided loans in compliance with the program rules, reported Politico.
Previously, Jacqueline Ayers, Planned Parenthood Federation Vice-President of Government Relations & Public Policy has stated, "It has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood health care organizations’ eligibility for Covid-19 relief efforts, and everything to do with the Trump administration using a public health crisis to advance a political agenda and distract from their own failures in protecting the American public from the spread of Covid-19."