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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) and U.S. Representative Greg Murphy (R-NC), along with 24 other Senators and 62 Representatives, introduced the Abortion Providers Loan Elimination (APLE) Act, which requires the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) affiliates to return the more than $80 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans it illegally applied for and received. It would also ensure Planned Parenthood affiliates, and other abortion providers, remain ineligible for future PPP funding and instruct the Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General to investigate how this national organization was able to receive funds from the program.
“Planned Parenthood should have never received funding from the Paycheck Protection Program,” Rubio said. “This legislation requires Planned Parenthood to return the money they illegally received, correcting for the funding error. The bill also ensures that no other abortion provider will be able to participate in PPP. I am proud to join Senator Marshall in introducing this legislation, and I remain committed to fighting for the unborn.”
“The Paycheck Protection Program was created to provide struggling small businesses with much needed federal assistance at the height of the coronavirus pandemic,” Marshall said. “Like most Americans, I was outraged to hear Planned Parenthood affiliates gamed the system and illegally obtained $80 million through the program. It’s clear to me that Americans don’t want their hard earned tax dollars to fund abortions, and to Planned Parenthood’s dismay, our bill claws back the money and investigates into how it ever was allowed to happen. As a physician who delivered thousands of babies in rural Kansas and now a U.S. Senator, I consider my efforts to protect the sanctity of life my most important work, and I’m pleased my colleagues joined me in this fight.”
“National Right to Life is grateful for the leadership of Senator Roger Marshall and Congressman Greg Murphy in introducing the Abortion Providers Loan Elimination Act. It is inexcusable that the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, continues to take federal dollars under the Paycheck Protection Program, when they are ineligible for funding. This legislation will prevent Planned Parenthood from exploiting the pandemic to supplement its income,” said Jennifer Popik, J.D., Director of Federal Legislation for National Right to Life Committee.
“The Paycheck Protection Program was established with the intention of helping small businesses that were struggling during the pandemic. However, bad actors like Planned Parenthood have improperly received loans through the program. We applaud Dr. Marshall and Dr. Murphy for standing up for Americans who overwhelmingly oppose taxpayer funds being used for abortion and fixing this problem by introducing legislation to explicitly ban abortion providers, like Planned Parenthood, from continuing to receive these funds,” said Jessica Anderson, Executive Director of Heritage Action for America.
For a full list of cosponsors, click here.
Background:
On May 19, 2020, SBA determined that local affiliates of PPFA were ineligible for PPP loans under the applicable affiliation rules and size standards, and that the loans they received should be returned. SBA cited the control PPFA exercised over its local affiliates in a number of different areas, such as medical standards, affiliate patient transfers, and an accreditation review process administered every three years as evidence of an affiliated organizational structure. Given that PPFA has nearly 16,000 employees nationwide, SBA determined that these PPFA affiliates were ineligible for PPP and requested that each of the 38 affiliates return the $80 million in PPP funds they wrongfully received.
Rubio, author of the PPP and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, led 33 of his Senate colleagues and 94 Members of the House of Representatives in requesting that Jovita Carranza, former Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), conduct a full investigation into how at least 37 PPFA affiliates applied for and improperly received a total of $80 million in PPP loans. On April 19, 2021, Rubio and colleagues requested U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General Mike Ware and SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman immediately investigate the unlawful participation of the PPFA in the Paycheck Protection Program.
The Abortion Providers Loan Elimination (APLE) Act amends the Paycheck Protection Program to make PPFA and other abortion providers ineligible to receive a PPP loan and claws back the $80 million PPFA affiliates received, including the $4.8 million in second draw loans issued under the Biden Administration.