Few Attend Obama National Small Business Conference

Only Seven Small Businesses Invited to Attend Obama National Small Business Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. - After announcing that the Obama Administration would, "convene a conference…that will bring together regulators, congressional leaders, lenders and small businesses," to discuss the flow of credit and capital to small businesses, on Wednesday, November 18, the Obama Administration held a five hour small business "forum" with a mere seven hand-picked small business owners on the docket.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) points to yet another example of the staggering disparity between President Obama's rhetoric and his administration's actions for our nation's 27 million small business owners.

Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, small businesses are responsible for over 50 percent of our nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 50.2 percent of the non-farm private sector work force and 97 percent of net-new jobs. With that in mind, the ASBL maintains small businesses deserved a more substantial seat at the table.

During the 2008 election cycle, President Obama promised 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

- Restore the Small Business Administration's (SBA) budget and staffing. http://obama.3cdn.net/d14eb1b3649c4d6745_0evzmv02w.pdf

- Restore the SBA Administrator to a cabinet level position. http://sbc.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=307468

- Implement the congressionally mandated 5-percent set-aside goal for women owned firms. http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/SmallBusinessFINAL.pdf

More than a year after the 2008 presidential election, the Obama Administration has failed to honor its promises to the small business community.

The ASBL maintains that honoring President Obama's promise to "end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants" alone, would save thousands of small businesses and countless American jobs by redirecting over $100 billion a year in federal contracts to small businesses in the middle class economy.

The diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants was not discussed during Wednesday's forum.

"As we predicted, President Obama's forum ignored what the SBA Inspector General has referred to as the SBA's #1 challenge for five consecutive years," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "We need to quit listening to what he says, and look at what he does. Despite the commotion and rhetoric the Obama Administration has stirred up regarding its small businesses forum, it looks like it was just another publicity stunt. I'd love to see someone from the mainstream media ask President Obama on national television why he is continuing to give billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms."

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Please click here to watch a short clip about the ASBL's concerns regarding the Obama Administration's small business conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JvT7Btd_9s