The Biden administration used the COVID relief package to give tens of millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood even after the federal government determined the billion-dollar abortion provider was ineligible for the program.
The Small Business Administration has given $23 million to 10 Planned Parenthood affiliates in 2021 through the Paycheck Protection Program. The agency sent those payments even though it ruled Planned Parenthood did not qualify for the funding, which was designed to aid small businesses dealing with government shutdowns and the coronavirus pandemic.
SBA, which did not respond to requests for comment, had previously ordered the nation's top abortion provider to return $80 million in taxpayer-backed PPP funds. The agency has not provided evidence that those funds were returned by any of the 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates that cashed the checks in 2020.
Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) said the agency is ignoring its own ruling—which held that affiliates of organizations with more than 500 employees are ineligible for PPP—to reward a political ally.
"I think Democrats know it is illegal to give small business loans to the big business, that is Planned Parenthood, but they are completely in the tank for taxpayer-funded abortions," Paul told the Washington Free Beacon.
Planned Parenthood did not respond to a request for comment.
Planned Parenthood has more than $2 billion in net assets, according to its 2019-2020 annual report. The organization pledged more than $45 million to support Biden and other Democrats in the 2020 campaign. It has already spent nearly $700,000 on lobbying in 2021, an effort that is already bearing fruit after congressional Democrats and the Biden administration put forward budget proposals to overturn longstanding bipartisan bans on taxpayer-funded abortion.
Republican members of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship announced Monday that they will refuse to vote on the SBA's nominee for deputy administrator until the agency takes action to ensure Planned Parenthood returns the tens of millions in funds. The nominee for the position, Dilawar Syed, served on the board of directors of an organization tied to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, which targets Israel with economic pressure.
Mallory Quigley, vice president of communications for the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, said it is "unconscionable" that the federal government wasted $100 million in relief funds on a billion-dollar business like Planned Parenthood.
"This money was intended to help small businesses survive during the deadly pandemic, not subsidize our nation's largest abortion business which daily harms women and takes innocent lives," Quigley told the Free Beacon. "It's time to hold those who let this happen accountable."