Donalds Calls for Planned Parenthood Investigation

Over the weekend, members of the House Committee on Small Business directed a letter to Secretary Janet Yellen of the Treasury Department and Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, calling for Planned Parenthood investigation into taxpayer dollars that the for-profit organization and its affiliates received through Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds (R), a member of the committee, and Missouri Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R), the Ranking Member of the Committee led the letter, arguing that “it is inexcusable that these agencies continue to allow PPP loans for organizations that are unqualified for this funding” when the “loans were intended for our nation’s struggling small businesses.”

In the letter, the lawmakers express that “through blatant and well-documented control of its local offices, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates have violated the SBA’s affiliation rules and received millions in taxpayer funds intended for small business relief since the initial authorization of the PPP,” adding that “it displays a level of complicity that is intolerable and inappropriate.”

In turn, the lawmakers are calling for a number of repercussions, urging “that the SBA and the Department of the Treasury investigate 1.) the distribution of these loans in violation of the relevant affiliation rules and 2.) whether Planned Parenthood violated the law.”

The lawmakers vowed to “continue to monitor this issue vigilantly,” concluding that “while our nation continues to recover from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the SBA and the Department of the Treasury must ensure the letter of the law and its rules are followed according to Congressional intent.”

Earlier this year, the Republican-led U.S. Senate pushed back against funding for abortion. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and  Rick Scott (R-FL), are leading the charge to fight Planned Parenthood “ nation’s largest and most notorious abortion provider” from receiving illegal funds from the next round of COVID-19 PPP loans. Sens. Cotton and Scott have penned a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administrator Jovita Carranza, urging her to disburse these illegal funds.