Lankford, HSGAC Republicans Demand Details on Illegal PPP Loans to Planned Parenthood Affiliates

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Republican members of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) to demand information from Small Business Administration Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman regarding Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that were illegally obtained and received by Planned Parenthood affiliates across the United States.

“On May 19, 2020, 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 of Planned Parenthood Federation of America were ineligible for PPP loans under the applicable affiliation rules and size standards, and that the loans they received should be returned,” the Senators wrote. “Despite this determination, the SBA approved 17 new PPP loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates totaling nearly $40 million in 2021. Moreover, under your leadership, the SBA has forgiven at least 34 Planned Parenthood PPP loans to date. This raises serious questions about the SBA’ s management of the PPP program which was intended to provide relief to small businesses. In order to better assist Congress in performing its oversight function, please provide the information requested in this letter no later than 5:00PM on May 10, 2022.”

Lankford has been the leading voice in Congress for the protection of life. He has championed the preservation of Hyde Amendment protections for taxpayers not to be forced to pay for abortions. Lankford has taken decisive action to investigate previously issued taxpayer-funded loans to abortion-providers like Planned Parenthood and their affiliates and to prevent it from happening again. In 2020, Lankford joined more than two dozen senators to call on the Department of Treasury to investigate Planned Parenthood’s abuse of PPP.

Lankford is Chair of the Senate Values Action Team, which advocates for issues including life and conscience protections, as well as a member of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus. Lankford and Paul were joined by Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) in sending the letter.

You can read the letter HERE and below:

Dear Administrator Guzman:

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 2954 we, as members of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, request information from the Small Business Administration (SBA) regarding Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans received by Planned Parenthood affiliates.

On May 19, 2020, 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 of Planned Parenthood Federation of America 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 Planned Parenthood Federation of America 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 Planned Parenthood Federation of America has nearly 16,000 employees nationwide, SBA determined that these affiliates were ineligible for PPP and requested that each of the 38 affiliates return the $80 million in PPP funds they wrongfully received.

Despite this determination, the SBA approved 17 new PPP loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates totaling nearly $40 million in 2021. Moreover, under your leadership, the SBA has forgiven at least 34 Planned Parenthood PPP loans to date.

This raises serious questions about the SBA’s management of the PPP program which was intended to provide relief to small businesses. In order to better assist Congress in performing its oversight function, please provide the following information:

1. Unredacted copies of any and all agency decisions, determinations, guidance, policies, communications, and/or documents related to PPP loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates, including but not limited to any response from and/or on behalf of any Planned Parenthood affiliate to the letter sent on or around May 19, 2020.
2. All records concerning or relating in any manner to any Planned Parenthood’s affiliate’s application for PPP funds, including but not limited to any application, information or material provided to the SBA by any Planned Parenthood affiliate.
3. All communication, including emails, from or with any Planned Parenthood affiliate or representative of any Planned Parenthood organization, including but not limited to any for profit or not for profit organization advocating or seeking information on behalf of Planned Parenthood.
4. All minutes, notes, or emails reflecting any internal deliberation regarding the eligibility of Planned Parenthood affiliates for the PPP Program.
5. The names and titles of each SBA employee and/or contractor that conducted a formal or informal review of any Planned Parenthood affiliate’s eligibility for the PPP Program.
6. Unredacted copies of any and all communications involving you regarding loan forgiveness associated with loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates.
7. Unredacted copies of your schedule reflecting any and all internal meetings, briefings, updates, calls, and/or discussions you attended or were scheduled to attend related to PPP forgiveness since becoming Administrator.
8. The date you first became aware that any Planned Parenthood affiliate had been approved for PPP loan forgiveness.
9. The date you first became aware that any forgiveness payment had been issued for any Planned Parenthood affiliate PPP loan.
10. The date you first became aware that the SBA lifted the “hold code” on any Planned Parenthood affiliate PPP loan.

Under 5 U.S.C. § 2954, “[a]n Executive agency, on request of the Committee on [Oversight and Reform] of the House of Representatives, or of any seven members thereof, or on request of the Committee on [Homeland Security and] Governmental Affairs of the Senate, or any five members thereof, shall submit any information requested of it relating to any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee.”

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is charged with studying:

the efficiency and economy of operations of all branches of the Government including the possible existence of fraud, misfeasance, malfeasance, collusion, mismanagement, incompetence, corruption or unethical practices, waste, extravagance, conflicts of interest, and the improper expenditure of Government funds in transactions, contracts, and activities of the Government or of Government officials and employees and any and all such improper practices between Government personnel and corporations, individuals, companies, or persons affiliated therewith, doing business with the Government, and the compliance or noncompliance of such corporations, companies, or individuals or other entities with the rules, regulations, and laws governing the various governmental agencies and the Governments relationship with the public.

Please provide the information requested in this letter no later than 5:00PM on May 10, 2022.

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