The Trump administration’s Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Jan. 22 that it is is reviewing whether Planned Parenthood affiliates improperly received $88 million in COVID relief loans, most of which were later forgiven.
The SBA has sent letters to 38 affiliates of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) demanding documentation to show they were eligible for loans issued through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) after the outbreak of COVID-19, according to a report from The Daily Signal.
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the review will examine whether the Planned Parenthood affiliates misrepresented their size or their relationship with PPFA to qualify for the loans, which were intended for small businesses with fewer than 500 employees.
“At the height of the pandemic, affiliates of Planned Parenthood took $88 million in taxpayer dollars to fund their abortion-on-demand agenda” Loeffler said, “and the Biden Administration made sure they got nearly every cent forgiven, even after the first Trump Administration protested.”
The PPP operated from April 2020 through May 2021 to help small businesses keep workers on payroll during COVID shutdowns. Applicants were required to self-certify that they met eligibility requirements, including limits on employee headcounts that take corporate affiliations into account.
During its initial rollout, Planned Parenthood affiliates said they were independent entities with fewer than 500 employees and therefore should qualify for loans totaling more than $80 million.
However, the first Trump administration’s SBA found that none of the abortion affiliates was eligible due to each one’s affiliation with PPFA, which exceeded the program’s 500-employee limit for small businesses. According to the most recent data from IBISWorld, an industry-market research database covering every US industry, PPFA has 12,407 employees.
Thirty-four loans issued to Planned Parenthood affiliates were later forgiven under the Biden administration. The current Trump SBA argues those forgiveness decisions were made without a “meaningful review” of eligibility.
SBA officials said the law allows the agency to review loans even after forgiveness and to seek repayment if borrowers are found to have been ineligible, according to the Signal report.
The report also said that affiliates could be ordered to repay the loans if they don’t provide requested documentation – and may face additional penalties if false certifications are discovered. Lawmakers have previously pressed federal agencies to investigate the loans. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last year called for answers about how the loans were approved and forgiven, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., asked the Justice Department to review whether the loans violated SBA rules.
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