Lankford, Loeffler Lead Senate Colleagues in Call to Investigate Planned Parenthood

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – US Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) led more than two dozen senators in calling on the U.S. Department of Treasury to investigate Planned Parenthood’s abuse of the taxpayer-funded Paycheck Protection Program, and separately calling on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to expand its ongoing investigation of Planned Parenthood in the wake of new evidence of criminal activity.  

In a letter to Treasury, Lankford and Loeffler led 27 of their Senate colleagues in requesting the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) at Treasury to investigate the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans that 43 Planned Parenthood affiliates wrongly received and look into Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s involvement in the affiliates’ application process. 

Planned Parenthood and its affiliates knowingly abused PPP and received a combined total of $80 million from taxpayers during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We ask that you investigate how these affiliates were able to obtain PPP loans despite their ineligibility under the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) affiliation rules, whether any Planned Parenthood affiliates knowingly provided false information in their PPP loan applications, and to what extent the parent organization, Planned Parenthood for America (PPFA), was involved in the application process for said loans,” wrote the senators.

 Lankford also joined colleagues in a letter to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in the wake of recently released, disturbing video testimony from the Center for Medical Progress that includes Planned Parenthood and biomedical company officials admitting to infanticide and fetal tissue trafficking under oath. The letter requests an update on DOJ’s investigation into Planned Parenthood, information on any follow up actions taken since the Senate Judiciary Committee’s criminal referrals were sent in 2016, and a list of prosecutions and investigations into criminal behavior, such as fetal tissue trafficking, infanticide and fraudulent abuse of PPP loans.

“Planned Parenthood’s abuse of taxpayer PPP dollars is yet another example of Planned Parenthood’s flagrant disregard for the law,” wrote the senators. “We urge you to investigate not only the extent to which Planned Parenthood was involved in the sale of fetal tissue, but also the disturbing descriptions by Planned Parenthood workers of infants born alive who were left to die or killed through organ harvesting.”

Background: 

In the letter to the DOJ, Lankford and Loeffler were joined by Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Rob Portman (R-OH), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

In the letter to the Department of Treasury, Lankford and Loeffler were joined by Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boozman (R-AR), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Rob Portman (R-OH), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Jerry Moran (R-KS), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), John Thune (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

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