Republicans block SBA candidate, citing family planning loans and Muslim group

Senate Republicans on Thursday again boycotted a committee vote to advance Dilawar Syed to deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration, delaying action against a candidate who is believed to be the administration’s highest ranking Muslim Biden amid accusations of sectarianism from certain groups.

Republicans on the small business committee said they would also skip the next vote on Syed, scheduled for Nov. 17, unless the SBA releases documents detailing the paycheck protection program loans that have gone to the paycheck protection program. Planned Parenthood affiliates. The agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“We asked for documents on Planned Parenthood to illegally obtain money from the Small Business Administration, and they gave us none, zero,” said committee member Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “That’s why he’s sort of in the mix of it. He would also oversee some of these programs. We also did not get assurances from him that he would give more information.

But Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Said he was against Syed’s affiliation with EmgageUSA, a Muslim organization to get the vote. Hawley said the group made anti-Semitic comments criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

More than 200 civil, Jewish and other faith-based organizations rejected the claims in a letter to the committee in August, saying the Republican boycott was “tinged with religious bigotry and xenophobia” and “anti-animosity. – blatant Muslim ”.