Kelly Loeffler Must Defend the Small Business Administration’s Non-Partisan Mission and Tradition

“Kelly Loeffler’s opportunity to lead the U.S. Small Business Administration comes at a precarious moment. Although few corners of the federal government have been spared from the Trump administration’s horrific, draconian staffing cuts and crippling funding freezes, the Small Business Administration was hit especially hard as approximately 20% of its workforce has already been let go. And given this administration’s pathological obsession with cutting almost anything and everything linked to DEI initiatives, we are deeply concerned about the future of the 8(a) Business Development Program, which was specifically designed to support historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs who traditionally struggle to access critical loans to start and grow their businesses. 

With these fears in mind, we implore Administrator Loeffler to maintain the SBA’s non-partisan, non-ideological tradition, and we urge her in the strongest terms to protect the agency from further reductions in staffing and any drastic changes or limitations to the ways in which funding is disbursed to small businesses. SBA has long had strong bi-partisan support, a reputation well deserved for its consistency in helping small businesses regardless of which administration is in office. SBA as an extension of partisanship, however, would cease to be SBA as we know it. Instead, it would be just another weapon in the arsenal of those who wish to thwart hard-working entrepreneurs who are the bedrock of our economy without regard for the devastating impact that those actions would have on communities across our nation.”