- The Small Business Administration has hidden communications with Planned Parenthood regarding alleged illegal COVID-19 loans, according to emails received by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
- In May 2020, the DCNF filed a request for a Freedom of Information Act for communications regarding the Paycheck Protection Program loans from Planned Parenthood after GOP lawmakers called for an investigation into the $ 80 million loans to affiliates branches of Planned Parenthood.
- Legislators argued that these subsidiaries obtained the loans illegally.
The Small Business Administration has hidden communications with Planned Parenthood about COVID-19 loans that Republicans say are illegal, according to emails received by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The SBA has issued strongly edited emails between the agency, lenders and affiliated subsidiaries in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the DCNF in May 2020. IDP lawmakers had earlier demanded an investigation into $ 80 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans (PPPs). and said they were obtained illegally.
The SBA has repeatedly refused to comment on Republicans’ allegations. (RELATED: Rubio asks SBA to investigate how planned parenting got $ 80 million in Coronavirus loans)
“Americans have the right to know why their tax money went to the Planned Parenthood abortion clinics instead of struggling small businesses, non-profit organizations and churches,” Sen. Tom Cotton told the DCNF.
“The small business administration should disclose how affiliated partners with the planned parenting played the system of illegally receiving PPP loans – and then refer that branch to the Department of Justice for prosecution,” the Arkansas Republican continued.
SBA Dodges Addresses Editors
The amended communication appears to address Republican concerns about PPP loans, as well as a letter from IDP lawmakers investigating whether the loans were illegally distributed.
As a result of the editorials, it is not clear what the SBA decided or how the SBA rationalized its decision. However, one email dated 18 May 2020 from an SBA employee to an email address from Sun Trust states that the SBA does not have the capacity to make a final determination on suitability, as ‘the applicant and the moneylender’ responsibility. ‘
The email notes that an anonymous applicant meets the required 501 (c) (3) criteria.
“If other admission requirements are met, the submission may be considered,” reads the email.
The DCNF insisted SBA on the few partially unedited communications from affiliated subsidiaries. One email that was mostly postponed from May 2020 is from the intended director of finance, Jennifer Meyer, of Northern New England.
Screenshot, SBA Email.
The subject line of the email is: “PPP funds in new account.” SBA changes the content of the email, although Meyer’s name, email signature and subject line are visible.
SBA spokeswoman Megan Moore told the DCNF that Meyer’s name was “accidentally disclosed” but that SBA could not disclose the information of applicants who “ultimately did not receive a loan”.
However, the planned parenting of Northern New England received a PPP loan of $ 2.72 million on April 5, 2020, according to federal records. The subsidiary did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When the DCNF pressured Moore to declare the contradiction, she acknowledged that her previous statement that Planned Parenthood or Northern New England had not received a loan was not false, but said that previous discussions about the suitability of affiliated parenting subsidiary cannot be released.
The DCNF reminded Moore that the edited notice after the loan had been issued had not been sent before, but Moore insisted that “eligibility questions may be raised at any time regardless of the loan approval date.”
IDP says planned parenting illegally received PPP loans
Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund earlier issued a March 25 statement acknowledging that the CARES legislation gives the SBA the power to exclude subsidiaries of Planned Parenthood from lending.
“The bill gives the Small Business Administration wide discretion to exclude affiliated subsidiaries and other non-profit industries that serve low-income people and to deny them benefits in the new small business lending program,” the statement said.
Despite this statement, Planned Parenthood confirmed in May 2020 that ‘some independent Planned Parenthood 501 (c) (3) organizations had applied for loans and that they had been granted loans in accordance with the eligibility rules provided by the CARES Act and the Small Business Administration (SBA), which they met. ”
Following this revelation, Republican lawmakers called on SBA administrator Jovita Carranza to investigate how 37 affiliated parenting companies received $ 80 million in loans.
“These circumstances require a full investigation to determine whether there is any wrongdoing, and we urge that such misconduct be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the lawmakers said in a May 2020 letter.
Since May, SBA has repeatedly refused to discuss the matter with the DCNF. SBA has repeatedly told the DCNF that it does not ‘comment on individual lenders’.
In January, Republican lawmakers again called on SBA to investigate the PPP loans.(RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Cotton, Senators Demand SBA to Stop Planned Parenthood’s ‘Naked Attempts to Deceive Government’ Through PPP Loans)
“Affiliated companies are well aware that they are not eligible to receive PPP loans, based on SBA’s letters and the honest admission of their political action committee,” senators wrote in the January letter to Carranza. “Their attempts to apply for OPS loans are naked attempts to defraud the US government.”
Cotton and his fellow senators stressed that Planned Parenthood employs approximately 16,000 people across the country and exercises diligent control over local affiliates, subject to uniform statutes, accreditation, regular reviews and mandates on what services they must provide to to remain the Federation. , such as abortion on the spot. ”
Since Planned Parenthood has too many employees to be eligible for loans for the Paycheck Protection Program, local organizations of the organization are also not eligible for the loans, the legislators write. (RELATED: Senators Insist DOJ Investigates Planned Parenthood for Coronavirus Funding)
“Nevertheless, at least 37 affiliated affiliated companies illegally obtained more than $ 80 million in taxpayer funds during the initial rounds of OPS by declaring themselves eligible for the program,” the senators asked in their letter. “In response, the SBA determined that these affiliates were ineligible to receive PPP loans, and issued their letters informing them of the consequences of false declarations of eligibility, including the repayment of loans. loss of forgiveness of loans and other civil and criminal fines. “
Planned Parenthood did not respond to requests for comment from the DCNF for this story.
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