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Friday, February 13, 2009

Broken Obama Campaign Promise Will Kill American Jobs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. – According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, firms with fewer than 20 employees comprise over 90 percent of all U.S. firms and are responsible for more than 97 percent of all new jobs in America. Over half of all Americans work for small businesses. (http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html)

Congress realized the vital importance of small businesses to our national economy when it passed one of our nation's first economic stimulus plans in 1953, the Small Business Act. Today, federal law based on the Small Business Act of 1953 requires a minimum of 23 percent of all federal contracts and sub-contracts be awarded to small businesses.

Since 2003, over 15 federal investigations have been released, which found hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracts that by law should be going to hardworking American small businesses have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms.

Every major newspaper in the country has reported on the problem and several of the largest television networks such as ABC, CBS and CNN have aired stories on the issue.

President Obama seemed to agree it was time to stop the fraud and abuse in federal small business contracting programs when, in February of 2008, he released the statement, "Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource. It is 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)

Since making that statement almost a year ago, President Obama has consistently refused to make good on his campaign promise, and support legislation to stop Fortune 500 firms from hijacking federal contracts designated for America's nearly 27 million small businesses.

Not only has President Obama refused to propose even a single policy to address the problem, but he actually changed his website to remove the appearance that he had ever made the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." (http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/sbhome/)

Just three weeks before the election, President Obama dropped a plan developed by his small business advisory council that would have halted the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to "corporate giants" and created millions of jobs. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/BOsmallbusinesspolicy.pdf)

The American Small Business League (ASBL) is encouraging journalists to ask President Obama if he will allow Fortune 500 firms to continue to take federal small business contracts during his administration.

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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Stimulus Bill Ignores America's Biggest Job Creators

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. – According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, firms with fewer than 20 employees account for over 90 percent of all U.S. businesses and are responsible for more than 97 percent of all new jobs in America. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/INKSBAReport.pdf) CNNMoney.com and Inc.com reported on the findings. (http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/30/smallbusiness/job_creation.fsb/index.htm, http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html)

The stimulus bill completely ignores this fact.

There is no need for Congress to reinvent the wheel. America already has a stimulus bill based on the realization that small businesses drive our nation's economy and create 97 percent of new jobs. That stimulus plan is called the Small Business Act. Current federal law stipulates that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all federal contracts and subcontracts shall be awarded to America's small businesses.

Unfortunately, since 2003 more than 15 federal investigations have been released which uncovered hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts actually went to Fortune 500 firms. (http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html) Every major newspaper has covered the story along with ABC, CBS and CNN. (ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170)

In 2005, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released Report 5-15, which described the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)

In February of 2008, President Obama responded to the problem with the statement, "Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource. It is 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)

To date, neither President Obama, nor any member of Congress have proposed even a single policy to address the diversion of up to $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts to "corporate giants."

If President Obama and Congress are sincerely interested in creating jobs and stimulating our nation's failing economy, the existing economic stimulus plan designed to direct federal infrastructure spending to the firms that create over 97 percent of new jobs must be addressed.

The Small Business Act defines a small business as "independently owned." Publicly traded firms do not qualify as small business, and are obviously not "independently owned."

One sentence in the stimulus bill could completely halt the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and create millions of jobs across the country. "The federal government and prime contractors shall not report awards to publicly traded firms as small business awards." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/fairnessandtrans.pdf)


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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Obama Could Stimulate Economy By Keeping Campaign Promise

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. – In February of 2008, President Obama released the following statement, "Small businesses are the backbone of our nation's economy and we must protect this great resource. It is 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)

President Obama's statement was made in response to a series of over 15 federal investigations, which found the Bush Administration had diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses.

Investigative stories released by ABC, CBS and CNN (ABC, http://www.asbl.com/abc_evening_news.wmv; CBS, http://www.asbl.com/cbs.wmv; CNN, http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1170) confirmed that many of the nation's top defense contractors were the actual recipients of most federal small business contracts. Firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman and Titan Industries received billions of dollars in U.S. government contracts reported as going to small businesses.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released Report 5-15 which stated, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today is that large businesses are receiving small business procurement awards and agencies are receiving credit for these awards." (http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)

A 2007 report from the SBA Office of Advocacy based on U.S. Census Bureau statistics found businesses with fewer than 20 employees were responsible for more than 97 percent of new jobs in America. CNNMoney.com and Inc.com released stories on the findings. (http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html ; http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/30/smallbusiness/job_creation.fsb/index.htm)
The American Small Business League (ASBL) is hoping to encourage President Obama and Congress to support draft legislation titled, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act, which will keep President Obama's campaign promise to the small business community and create millions of new jobs.

The new legislation was drafted by the ASBL and is based on original provisions of the Small Business Act, which define a small business as "independently owned." The legislation would exclude publicly traded firms from being counted towards the federal government's small business procurement goal. The essence of the ASBL legislation states, "The federal government and prime contractors can no longer report awards to publicly traded firms as small business awards."

"Everybody in America knows Fortune 500 firms should not be allowed to hijack government small business contracts. Seven years, 15 federal investigations, hundreds of stories in the press and thousands of hard working small businesses forced into bankruptcy are enough," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "It is time for President Obama to do what he said he would do during the campaign and stop the diversion of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to corporate giants."

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