Trump Administration To Planned Parenthood: Return Coronavirus Relief Funds

Summary

An NPR article reports that the Trump administration is asking local Planned Parenthood affiliates to return millions of dollars in loans received through the Paycheck Protection Program. In letters obtained by NPR, the Small Business Administration informs local affiliates that they are ineligible under the program's rules intended to limit the funds to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. The letters say Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide have applied for more than $80 million. Planned Parenthood officials say local member organizations that fall within the limits, not the larger national group, applied for and received the funds. The SBA asks affiliates to either return the funds or respond with documentation demonstrating eligibility.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Thanks for trying out Immersive Reader. Share your feedback withus. (7 4 x

Trump Administration To Planned

Parenthood: Return Coronavirus
Relief Funds

The Trump administration is asking local Planned Parenthood affiliates around the
U.S. to return millions of dollars in loans received through the federal government's
coronavirus relief package.

In letters obtained by NPR, the Small Business Administration, which administers
the Paycheck Protection Program, informs local affiliates that they are ineligible
under the program's rules intended to limit the funds to small businesses and
nonprofit organizations. In total, the letters say, Planned Parenthood affiliates
nationwide have applied for more than $80 million through the forgivable-loan
program, which was set up through the CARES Act.

Under the program's rules, small businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 500
employees can apply for forgivable loans. Planned Parenthood officials say local
member organizations that fall within those limitations — not the larger, national
group — applied for and received the funds.

The Small Business Administration asks affiliates to either return the funds or
respond with documentation demonstrating eligibility for the program. The letters
end with a warning that "if SBA determines that a borrower made a knowingly
false certification" on a loan application, the agency "may refer the borrower for
appropriate civil or criminal penalties."

Sponsor Message
In a letter to Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, an SBA official
notes that the organization in Washington, D.C., applied for a little more than $1.3

million in funds through the program, which was set up to help small businesses
keep employees on payroll during the crisis. A similar letter to Planned Parenthood
of Delaware references a loan application for $496,225. The letters were first
reported by Fox News.

Stephanie Fraim, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest and
Central Florida, told NPR that her organization received a little over $2 million,
mostly to cover employee paychecks.

"The economic uncertainty at that moment was profound, and the two weeks while
we waited for this loan, we spent having some very tough conversations about what
we would do if we didn't get this loan," Fraim said.

Jacqueline Ayers, vice president of government relations and public policy at the
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the move by SBA is part of a
politically motivated "relentless attack" by the Trump administration, which
opposes abortion rights and has taken steps to restrict access to abortion and
contraception.

Since early on in the pandemic, groups opposed to abortion rights have expressed
concern that coronavirus relief funds not be directed to organizations like Planned
Parenthood. Many Planned Parenthood clinics provide abortions along with other
reproductive health services, but using federal funds to pay for abortions is
prohibited in most cases.

Several Republican senators also are calling on Planned Parenthood affiliates to
return funds distributed through the Paycheck Protection Program. Sen. Marco
Rubio of Florida, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business &
Entrepreneurship, has said that taken together, Planned Parenthood affiliates have
too many employees nationwide to be eligible under the program's rules. He said he
wants the Small Business Administration to open an investigation into why and
how the Planned Parenthood affiliates received the money.

In an interview with NPR, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) also said Planned
Parenthood should return the funds, as several prominent large businesses and
organizations have done after coming under criticism.

"That's what the Los Angeles Lakers have done. That's what Shake Shack has done.
That's what Ruth's Chris [Steak House] has done," Lankford said. "So other
organizations that it was exposed that they should not have taken the money have

returned the money, so that would be the reasonable thing for them to be able to
do."
Legal experts say the Paycheck Protection Program's eligibility rules are somewhat
unclear and have shifted as the program has rolled out.

"They keep changing the rules," said Jessica Abrahams, who specializes in
government contracting law at the firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath. "So entities

that qualified three weeks ago may not qualify today. There's a lot of confusion, a
lot of concern."

File and source

File

hhrg-117-go24-20220331-sd011-c4c5c4436cd9.pdf

Size

1,072,545 bytes

SHA-256

c4c5c4436cd988ec55e1adf1e6d9d40ce5136a2a60664043acd63b4d1395467a

Our copy

hhrg-117-go24-20220331-sd011-c4c5c4436cd9.pdf

Original

docs.house.gov