Sen. Marshall demands investigation into Planned Parenthood

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - Senator Roger Marshall has demanded an investigation into what he says is Planned Parenthood’s unlawful use of PPP loans.

Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) says he has joined his colleagues in sending a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Small Business Administration Inspector General Mike Ware and SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman to request immediate attention and an investigation into the unlawful participation of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in the Paycheck Protection Program.

“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.”

According to Sen. Marshall, in May of 2020, SBA notified a number of Planned Parenthood affiliates that they wrongfully applied for 38 PPP loans that totaled over $80 million. He said the SBA found that these local affiliates were not eligible for the loans under the affiliation rules and that the loans should be returned.

On May 19, 2020, Marshall said the SBA found that local affiliates of PPFA were not eligible for PPP loans under affiliation rules and size standards and that the loans received needed to be returned. He said SBA cited the control PPFA exercised over the affiliates in a number of areas, like medical standards, affiliate patient transfers and accreditation review process administered every 3 years as evidence of an affiliated organizational structure. He said given that PPFA has almost 16,000 employees nationally, SBA decided that these affiliates were not eligible for PPP and requested that each of the 38 affiliates return the $80 million that it wrongfully sent.

“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.”

To read the full letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Garland, click HERE.

To read the 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, click HERE.