Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, illegally applied for and received $80 million in taxpayer cash through the CARES Act, an aid package designed to help small businesses weather the COVID-19 shutdown.
According to new reports, 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates got a combined total of $80 million from the feds, despite the fact that congressional Republicans had included language in the bill excluding them from being eligible for the funding.
In its description of businesses that could receive the aid, the CARES Act stipulated that affiliates of larger organizations that had a total of more than 500 employees weren’t considered “small businesses” and were therefore ineligible to receive the small business loans. Planned Parenthood, which already receives more than $500 million in taxpayer funding each year, has thousands of employees, with 600 employed by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America alone.
Meanwhile, many small businesses who've been forced to close during the pandemic were unable to get financial assistance after money from the first aid bill ran out within hours of becoming available.
Now, the Small Business Administration is telling Planned Parenthood clinics that improperly received the cash - including the Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino counties in California, which received $7.5 million - that the funds need to be returned to the federal government. The SBA has also threatened criminal or civil action if it can be determined that the Planned Parenthood affiliates applied for the loans knowing they weren’t eligible.
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Sen. Marco Rubio, who chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, is now calling for an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s applying for the money, saying the bill was clear in its exclusion of large non-profits.
There is no ambiguity in the legislation that passed or public record around its passage that organizations such as Planned Parenthood, whose parent organization has close to half a billion dollars in assets, is not eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program,” Rubio said. “Those funds must be returned immediately. Furthermore, the SBA should open an investigation into how these loans were made in clear violation of the applicable affiliation rules and if Planned Parenthood, the banks, or staff at the SBA knowingly violated the law, all appropriate legal options should be pursued.”