No PPP loans for PP

Richard A. Sokerka

The Paycheck Protec­tion Program (PPP) under the CARES Act was an emergency loan measure to help eligible small businesses and non-profits with 500 employees or lesss. Under the Small Business Association (SBA), these loans kept employees on the payroll during the pandemic with the specific understanding that the loans could become grants. If a business was affiliated with a larger national organization under existing SBA rules, then it would be counted together with the larger organization and all its affiliates.

Faith-based groups were exempt from the affiliation requirement, which meant that Catholic parishes, schools and organizations — while part of a diocese — were not all lumped together and counted as a single entity that would be ineligible for PPP loans. This exemption also allowed The Beacon to apply for and receive a PPP loan.

On the other hand, national organizations such as Planned Parenthood were subject to the affiliation rules and were considered ineligible for the emergency assistance. Despite knowing that, Planned Parenthood affiliates, which were deemed “essential” businesses in the pandemic by Democratic governors who halted all elective surgeries, skirted the rules and applied for and somehow though a glitch in the application system received more than $80 million in PPP loans.

Now, 27 Republican senators want Attorney General William Barr to investigate Planned Parenthood affiliates that have received loans. In a letter to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), the senators wrote, “It seems clear that Planned Parent­hood knew that it was ineligible for the small business loans under the CARES Act long before its affiliates fraudulently self-certified that they were eligible. As you know, fraudulent loan applications can trigger both civil and criminal penalties.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said, “There is no ambiguity in the legislation that passed that organizations such as Planned Parent­hood, whose parent organization has close to half a billion dollars in assets, is not eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program,” Rubio said. “Those funds must be returned immediately. Furthermore, the SBA should open an investigation into how these loans were made in clear violation of the applicable affiliation rules and if Planned Parent­hood, the banks, or staff at the SBA knowingly violated the law, all appropriate legal options should be pursued.”

Moreover, the SBA warned more “severe penalties” were possible, beyond mandatory repayment. In particular, incorrect or false eligibility certifications by PPP recipients could result in criminal or civil sanctions if the SBA determined borrowers made knowingly false statements.

The OAG must see that every single dollar of the $80 million in loans to Planned Parenthood affiliates is returned and that money be loaned properly as a lifeline to keep more small businesses alive rather than being wrongly used to end the lives of the innocent in their mother’s womb.