Petaluma, Calif. – President Barack Obama has dropped a campaign promise he made to small businesses in February of 2008 when he said, “98 percent of all American companies have fewer than 100 employees. Over half of all Americans work for a small business. Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource. It’s time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.” (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
During the campaign, Obama modified the quote on his website to remove the statement. (http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/sbhome/)
President Obama is expected to join House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and support a change in the federal definition of a small business as "independently owned" to include firms controlled by wealthy venture capitalists.
President Obama refused to include any proposed policies or legislation in his Change.gov website to address the problem. Just days before the election he also dropped a plan prepared by his small business advisory council to stop the flow of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses. Without specific legislation or policy from President Obama, middle class companies will continue to lose jobs and up to $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/BOsmallbusinesspolicy.pdf)
Obama's appointment of multi-millionaire venture capitalist and National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) member Karen Mills to head the Small Business Administration (SBA) is an indication that President Obama will likely support the diversion of federal small business contracts to wealthy venture capitalists.
During the course of the presidential campaign the NVCA and many of its largest members contributed millions of dollars to President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry and dozens of key democratic members of Congress. The NVCA has been lobbying for changes in federal contracting law that will allow its members to take billions of dollars in federal contracts earmarked for small businesses. (http://www.maplight.org/map/us/interest/F2500)
The NVCA has hired some of Washington's most powerful lobbyists to help them gain access to federal programs designed to help middle class firms. They have tried to disguise the policy and legislative changes they are seeking by calling it, “increasing access to capital for small businesses.”
In the recent past, attempts by the NVCA to have the federal definition of a small business as “independently owned” modified was opposed by the SBA, the United States Chamber of Commerce, the American Small Business League and dozens of other small business groups around the country. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=624)
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