Two Republican senators are demanding information from the Small Business Administration (SBA) about how much COVID-19 aid Planned Parenthood chapters received.
Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) sent a letter on Friday to SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler about the abortion giant receiving funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was created during the pandemic to assist businesses suffering under government-imposed lockdowns, the Daily Signal first reported.
“Not a single tax dollar should fund abortions,” Ernst told the outlet. “The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to help Americans struggling during the pandemic, not to go to ineligible recipients fueling abortion-on-demand.”
“The Biden administration obstructed our investigation of potentially illegal applications of PPP loans to Planned Parenthood entities, and we are confident the Trump administration will provide the transparency the American people deserve,” Paul, a medical doctor, told the outlet.
PPP was designed to help Americans struggling during the pandemic, not to fuel abortion-on-demand.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) March 7, 2025
After Biden's stonewalling, I'm confident @SBA_Kelly will work with me and @SenRandPaul to uncover why $40 million in COVID cash was sent to the nation’s largest abortion provider. https://t.co/PBEMmNmFg5
During President Donald Trump’s first term in May 2020, the SBA deemed Planned Parenthood affiliates ineligible to receive PPP loans. The SBA at the time cited federal law barring the funding of abortions, as well as the large size of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).
The letter alleges that the SBA under the Biden administration hid information related to PPP funding for the abortion giant’s affiliates. Ernst told the Daily Signal that the Biden administration “stonewalled my oversight efforts at every turn and prevented the American people from learning how Planned Parenthood cashed in on COVID.”
“Now that Administrator Loeffler has ushered in a new era of transparency at the SBA, I look forward to working with her to uncover the truth and stop the flow of these funds,” she said.
Planned Parenthood affiliates improperly applied for 38 PPP loans worth more than $80 million in 2020. During the Biden administration, the SBA approved loans to the abortion giant’s branches totaling nearly $40 million — despite Biden’s history of backing the Hyde Amendment, legislation that bars taxpayer dollars from funding abortions.
The House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic recently discovered that PPP programs lost $64 billion to fraud.
