Snowe Calls on House to Speed Passage of SBA Reauthorization Bill; Senator Urges Action Is Key to Sustain Job Growth

5/26/2004

From: Craig Orfield of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 202-224-5175, Web: http://sbc.senate.gov

WASHINGTON, May 26 -- U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today called on the House of Representatives to adopt a multi-year, full reauthorization bill for the Small Business Administration (SBA) necessary to sustain the range of programs that support economic growth among the nation's 23 million small businesses.

"As the economy recovers, it is essential that Congress send a message that affirms long-term stability in the lending, counseling, and business development programs the small business community looks to the SBA to provide," said Snowe. "Small business owners now want to make plans for the future, including decisions that will create approximately two-thirds of all net new jobs and help sustain local communities, as a recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) confirms. And they need assurance that these important SBA programs will be there to help."

In a May 7, 2004 statement, NFIB's Chief Economist, William Dunkelberg, released the results of an April survey conducted by the NFIB Research Foundation, saying: "Plans to create new jobs improved in April, rising one point from the March reading to 14 percent of all firms, a reading that is higher than at any point during the 1980s, a 20-million-job expansion. By industry, every group appears to be looking for employees and plans to create new jobs far exceed plans to reduce employment by large magnitudes."

Although the Senate passed a three-year, full reauthorization bill, Snowe's "Small Business Administration 50th Anniversary Reauthorization Act," (S.1375) on September 26, 2003, the House is yet to take action on it, or on their proposed SBA reauthorization bill, H.R. 2802.

Snowe said passage of an SBA reauthorization bill remains one of her top priorities, adding that she is committed to working with the House leadership and the SBA to resolve the impasse in the House as quickly as possible. According to the President's Fiscal 2005 Budget Request to Congress, passage of a long-term reauthorization will help provide an estimated 3.3 million jobs created or retained over the next 5 years as a result of the lending, capital investment, counseling and technical assistance SBA programs contribute to the economy.

"In my view, too much is at stake for small firms, and the economy as a whole, to let this issue wait," Snowe said. "Only with passage of a new, multi-year reauthorization bill will we have ensured that the SBA is well positioned to help small businesses. Clearly, this is not the time to delay legislation that directly benefits the backbone of our economy -- the small firms that are most responsible for putting people to work."