Press releases

MADISONVILLE, La. – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), member of the Senate Small Business Committee, today joined Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and other Republican committee members in urging Attorney General Merrick Garland, Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General Mike Ware and SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman to investigate Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s (PPFA) unlawful participation in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

In May of 2020, the 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 PPFA received should be returned.

“On March 23, 2021, SBA provided the Senate Small Business Committee with an updated dataset on all PPP loans as of March 14, 2021. 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,” the senators wrote.

“. . . 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,” the senators continued. 

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Roger Marshall (R- Kan.) also signed the letters.  

Background:

On May 19, 2020, the 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. The 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, the 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.

The letter to Garland is available here

The letter to Ware is available here

The letter to Guzman is available here.