WASHINGTON – Louisiana Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) are among the nearly 30 senators who joined in on the investigation into Planned Parenthood funding.
On Thursday, these senators sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr urging the Department of Justice to investigate whether dozens of Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country applied for and received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) even though those affiliates knew they were ineligible to apply.
“The Paycheck Protection Program established by the CARES Act was designed by Congress to help struggling small businesses and nonprofit organizations by giving them access to low-cost loans for expenses like keeping their employees on payroll during this pandemic. It was not designed to give government funds to politicized, partisan abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. The funds in the program are not unlimited, and were depleted once already because of high demand. Planned Parenthood fraudulently taking tens of millions of dollars that were intended to help keep those small businesses and nonprofit organizations afloat cannot stand and must be addressed,” wrote the senators.
Under the statuary text of the CARES Act, organizations like Planned Parenthood’s affiliates are expressly prohibited from receiving PPP funds. Additionally, the Small Business Administration confirmed last month that its standing affiliation rules apply to the new PPP, which excludes organizations like Planned Parenthood, whose type of governance and affiliation structure make it ineligible for these loans, as does the fact that its total number of employees exceed the program’s cap.
Kennedy and Cassidy are joined on the letter by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Thune (R-S.D.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.)