'Taxpayers Should Not Have to Fund Abortion': Trump Admin Blocks Planned Parenthood from COVID-19 Aid
The Trump Administration is making sure no relief funds go to Planned Parenthood, the country's leading abortion provider.
The Paycheck Protection Program was created to assist businesses during the pandemic, but the president strongly believes that taxpayers should not pay for abortions, The Daily Signal reports.
"President Trump is committed to ensuring Paycheck Protection Program money is used for saving jobs at small businesses, not getting the government into the business of funding abortion,” said a senior administration official.
Planned Parenthood won’t be getting paycheck protection funds—and you can thank @realDonaldTrump for that!
— Rachel del Guidice (@LRacheldG) April 30, 2020
Want to know how? My latest exclusive: https://t.co/2llE6tuXoc
"While not all Americans share President Trump's pro-life beliefs, there is broad bipartisan support for the idea that American taxpayers should not have to fund abortion," the official said on Wednesday.
In March, President Trump signed into law the CARES Act, which provides financial assistance to both 501(c)(3) organizations and small businesses employing under 500 workers.
Within the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, $350 billion was targeted for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to fund two-and-a-half months of an organization's average monthly payroll costs (including benefits) as a loan. The loan can be forgiven if the size of the organization's workforce remains the same in 2020 as it was in 2019.
The Small Business Administration (SBA), which monitors the program, had already excluded the possibility of Planned Parenthood receiving funds because the abortion provider employs over 16,000 people across the nation. However, it has branch offices that operate with less than 500 employees.
"The SB in SBA is for 'small business,'" the official said. "So SBA has regulations called 'affiliation rules' to define when small employers might be so closely affiliated with a parent organization that they should be considered one large employer."
The update comes as abortion providers across the nation dispute abortion bans that many state governors have required in an effort to preserve medical equipment during the virus.
"It's clear that the abortion industry shouldn't be able to qualify for those funds, which are desperately needed by small businesses," the official added.
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