Why Is CARES Act Funding Going to Planned Parenthood Affiliates?

             President Joe Biden gave his first speech to a joint session of Congress. There were only certain lawmakers who were invited to the event, an apparent move to social distance. History was made tonight in that there were two women sitting behind the President as he spoke. Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi were there to support the President. I did not either of them tear up their copy of the speech, so I assume that they like what the President said.

            I also assume that they agree with the presidential orders concerning abortions. Former President Donald Trump cut much of the federal funding from the abortion industry, but Biden replaced it. Now, Republican lawmakers are attempting to stop abortion providers from receiving funds from the coronavirus bills.

            Representative Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) sponsored the Abortion Providers Loan Elimination Act and provided a draft of the proposal to The Daily Caller News Foundation. The proposed bill would “prohibit abortion providers from receiving a covered loan under the paycheck protection program.”

            According to Mary Margaret Olohan, Republicans accused Planned Parenthood affiliates of illegally accepting millions in coronavirus aid. This bill is meant to stop abortion providers from receiving funds under this program. Murphy made the following statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation. 

Abortion providers have absolutely no business receiving [Paycheck Protection Program] loans…. It is a scandal that Planned Parenthood received loans through [the Paycheck Protection Program] in the first place.

The money they received could have gone toward saving your favorite local restaurant or mom and pop shop, but instead Planned Parenthood took this money and used it to kill the unborn…. I’m proud to join Senator [Roger] Marshall in a bicameral effort to right this wrong and explicitly outlaw Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from receiving these loans ever again.

            Senator Marshall (R-Kansas) will introduce the bill in the Senate. He told The Daily Caller News Foundation that he was “outraged” when he heard that “Planned Parenthood affiliates gamed the system and illegally obtained $80 million through the program.”

It’s clear to me that Americans don’t want their hard-earned tax dollars to fund abortions, and to Planned Parenthood’s dismay, our bill claws back the money and investigates into how it ever was allowed to happen…. As a physician who delivered thousands of babies in rural Kansas and now a U.S. senator, I consider my efforts to protect the sanctity of life my most important work, and I’m pleased my colleagues joined me in this fight.

            It seems that the Small Business Administration is involved in this transfer of funds, but officials there have “repeatedly declined to comment on the Republicans’ claims.” However, Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund has made a couple of statements according to Olohan.

Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund previously issued a statement in March 2020 acknowledging that the CARES Act legislation gave the Small Business Administration the power to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates from receiving loans. Despite this statement, Planned Parenthood confirmed in May 2020 that “some independent Planned Parenthood 501(c)(3) organizations applied for and were awarded loans under the eligibility rules established by the CARES Act and the Small Business Administration (SBA), which they met.

            When Republican members of Congress learned of the loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates, they called for an investigation by Jovita Carranza, the administrator of Small Business Administration. The probe was to determine “how 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates received $80 million in loans.” Olohan said that the SBA repeatedly refuses to discuss the situation with The Daily Caller News Foundation and gives the following reason: it does not “comment on individual borrowers.”

            In January, Republican lawmakers again called for an investigation. They pointed to the statements made by Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund and wrote the following in a letter to the SBA: “Their attempts to apply for [Paycheck Protection Program] loans are naked attempts to defraud the United States government.”

            Fraud is a serious charge, and I hope that the lawmakers are ready to stand behind it. The loopholes must be closed, and the loans returned. However, I am not going to hold my breath until it happens!