FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 26, 2021
Contact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, at a U.S. Senate Small Business Committee hearing, Ranking Member U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) continued his efforts to stop taxpayer dollars from funding abortions. During the hearing, Dr. Paul questioned Small Businesses Administrator Isabel Guzman over the Small Business Administration’s continued funding of abortions using taxpayer dollars through the PPP loan program.
“During today’s Small Business Committee hearing I questioned SBA Administrator Guzman on the Biden Administration’s decision to allow small business loans to go to Planned Parenthoods and fund abortions across America, which is a reversal of the Trump administration’s determination that these loans were illegal,” said Dr. Paul. “I have repeatedly asked for more information that she has not yet provided. Today she again refused to give us that information, even though she clearly knows the answers.”
On April 15, 2021, Dr. Paul and SBC Republican members sent a letter detailing how two PPFA affiliates were approved for second draw loans despite their ineligibility for PPP loans.
The letter requested that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) investigate and provide additional information regarding PPFA affiliates' participation in the PPP by April 23, 2021.
Months ago at Administrator Guzman’s confirmation hearing, she committed to look into the PPP loans being given to Planned Parenthood and ensure that SBA’s affiliation rules were applied and enforced in accordance with the law. Since her confirmation, however, the SBA has approved at least six additional loans to Planned Parenthood Affiliates for $17.6 million, including a recent approval to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York for $10 million, the maximum loan amount.
Click here to watch the exchange between Dr. Paul and SBA Administrator Guzman.
BACKGROUND:
On May 19, 2020, 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. 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, 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.
During the partisan Budget Reconciliation process earlier this year, Democrats planned to waive SBA’s affiliation rules for nonprofits, which would have allowed PPFA to be eligible for PPP. Ranking Member Paul forced Democrats to remove the provision. The Paul team strenuously argued to the Senate Parliamentarian that this waiver would only benefit Planned Parenthood and thus violated the so-called Byrd rule. Before the Parliamentarian was able to rule on the arguments presented, the Democrats filed an updated version of the bill that did not include the offending provision – a concession that avoided setting a precedent.
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