Trump admin denies COVID-19 relief funds for Planned Parenthood — the money is for small businesses, not for 'funding abortion'

The Trump administration has made sure that no funds from the Paycheck Protection Program, which is designed to aid small businesses hurt by the COVID-19 shutdowns, will go to the nation's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

A senior administration official confirmed the news to Daily Signal on Wednesday, saying, "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."

"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 added.

Included in the historic $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — also known as the CARES Act — passed late last month, the PPP provided $349 billion in relief for small businesses. Under the fund's guidelines, businesses with fewer than 500 employees could apply for a forgivable loan if they retained their employees. After the fund ran out of money in mid-April, Congress approved an additional $310 billion in new funding.

Due to Planned Parenthood's size, it was already excluded by the Small Business Administration, the organization that oversees the loan program.

"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 clarification was necessary, however, because while Planned Parenthood employs over 16,000 people nationwide, the organization operates affiliate networks, each of which has fewer than 500 employees.