Politicizing Small Business Administration Reauthorization Harms Entrepreneurs

Bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) is now being held up because of a partisan effort to insert unrelated and counterproductive regulatory provisions into the legislation. A delay in this process will hurt small businesses since so many entrepreneurs rely on the SBA for a wide range of services.  

We’re disappointed that a bipartisan agreement on the “SBA Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2019” is now stalled due to the majority including provisions that stem from a misunderstanding of the impact of federal regulations on small firms. In reality, regulations should not be viewed as all good or all bad. Instead, they should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis by the SBA Office of Advocacy pursuant to a long-standing efficient process that is currently in place.

The SBA is critical to the success of America’s small businesses and any holdups in the agency’s reauthorization could halt the growth of countless small firms. Instead of holding this legislation hostage for partisan purposes, lawmakers should quickly reauthorize the SBA and then work to make permanent vital programs like Community Advantage, which would expand SBA loan eligibility to women and minorities regardless of location. We hope this disagreement is resolved quickly and that a Senate committee known for bipartisanship can get back to doing good for America’s job creators.