Proving that not even a deadly pandemic is an obstacle to advancing the forced-birther agenda, 27 senators led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Tom Cotton want Attorney General William Barr to investigate 37 Planned Parenthood affiliates. They assert these fraudulently obtained loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) set up to keep small businesses afloat in an economy mostly shut down to stop the spread of the coronavirus. (Disclosure: Kos Media received a Paycheck Protection Program loan.) They want the affiliates to give back the PPP money. And they suggest prosecution is their ultimate goal. Anything to stick it to an organization dedicated to ensuring that women’s reproductive freedom—including access to abortion—is not mere words on paper.
The Small Business Administration, which administers the PPP, has also sent a letter to those affiliates, saying that its preliminary look indicates they are ineligible for loans they have already received—reportedly some $80 million total. The letter warns that if an affiliate made a false claim in its application, the SBA might “refer the borrower for appropriate civil or criminal penalties.” A number of senators have pointed out that the SBA was given broad discretion in interpreting rules about who is and is not eligible. Quite arbitrary discretion it would seem.