Senate Democrats call on SBA to allow Planned Parenthood to keep PPP loans

May 24, 2020 Michael US 0

FILE- In this June 4, 2019, file photo, a Planned Parenthood clinic is photographed in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 2:55 PM PT — Sunday, May 24, 2020

Senate Democrats raised the alarm on the Trump administration after the Small Business Administration asked Planned Parenthood centers to return the Paycheck Protection Program loans they were given.

Led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), dozens of Democrats sent a letter to the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration Friday, asking that they stop pressuring the clinics to return $80 million they were “rightfully given.”

Schumer went on to say the administration is engaging in what is an “ideologically based attack against critical safety net healthcare providers.”

Under the CARES Act, small businesses and non-profits with fewer than 500 employees could apply for forgivable loans amid the coronavirus pandemic. Planned Parenthood was among those applicants.

However, President Trump has said the group is “ineligible” under the program’s rules because they are a “single entity,” making them “too large” to qualify for the stimulus aid. GOP lawmakers have echoed that same message.

“Irrespective of whatever line of business they were in, their parent company’s sitting on net assets of over half a billion dollars. No affiliate of that organization can even operate or exist without approval of that board, so they directly violate the affiliation rules. They should have known that, and someone at SBA should have known that too.” – Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator (R-Fla.)

Planned Parenthood has denied violating any rules. In a letter to the president, the organization claimed it has nothing to do with their lack of “eligibility” and everything to do with the administration using a global health crisis to advance a political agenda.

“The Treasury Department and the SBA need to get their fraud investigators in there immediately, because this was a fraudulent act by these Planned Parenthood affiliates,” stated Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).