A pair of Republican senators are asking the Trump administration to investigate Planned Parenthood for potential financial fraud stemming from the COVID era, as Congress moves to allow continued prosecutions for COVID-related fraud. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) recently sent a letter to Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration (SBA), asking her to look into Planned Parenthood’s “unlawful” collection of over $100 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and to provide Congress with related documents which the Biden administration previously withheld.

According to the senators, Planned Parenthood affiliates were alerted in the first half of 2020 that they were ineligible “under the applicable affiliation rules and size standards” for 38 PPP loans that they had applied for, totaling $80 million, and demanded that the money be returned. However, under the Biden administration, the SBA issued more PPP loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates in 2021, totaling $40 million. Additionally, the Biden administration’s SBA “forgave” 34 PPP loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates, not only not demanding the money be returned but not even requiring that the loans be paid back.

The senators wrote that they have “repeatedly sought” answers to why the Biden administration’s SBA continued issuing loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates previously deemed ineligible for PPP participation. Ernst and Paul asked for answers in a hearing and three letters in 2021, another letter in 2022, and a “document retention and record preservation request” in 2024. “We continue to seek this information. Borrowers who made incorrect or false eligibility certifications on their PPP application are subject to severe penalties,” the senators wrote.

Therefore, they requested in their letter that Loeffler and the SBA investigate whether or not Planned Parenthood affiliates “made a knowingly false certification on their applications for PPP loans, and upon findings of false certification, pursue all appropriate penalties for any unlawful participation in the program.” The senators also requested that Loeffler provide them with any and all PPP applications submitted to the SBA by any Planned Parenthood affiliate, any communications the SBA has had with Planned Parenthood affiliates, all records of “any internal deliberation regarding the eligibility of Planned Parenthood affiliates for the PPP program,” and a host of other records and documents, including the “names and titles of each SBA employee and/or contractor that conducted a formal or informal review of any Planned Parenthood affiliate’s eligibility for the PPP program.” The senators gave Loeffler a deadline of March 21 to deliver the requested records and documents.

Ernst declared in a statement, “PPP was designed to help Americans struggling during the pandemic, not to fuel abortion-on-demand.” She added that she is “confident” that Loeffler will collaborate with her and Paul “to uncover why $40 million in COVID cash was sent to the nation’s largest abortion provider.” Paul added, “Biden obstructed our investigation but we’re confident [the Trump administration] will provide the transparency the American people deserve.”

In comments to The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, said, “Planned Parenthood’s main source of income is killing innocent and defenseless unborn children. But apparently, if the occasion presents itself, the titan of death also likes to dabble in stealing millions of dollars from American taxpayers and small businesses who need it.” She added, “Planned Parenthood should be held accountable to the fullest extent possible.”

This week, the House of Representatives approved legislation expanding the statute of limitations for prosecuting COVID-related unemployment insurance fraud, allowing another five years for fraudsters to be brought to justice.