FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – On October 21, President Barack Obama announced he would convene a small business conference to address increasing access to capital for small businesses. Yet less than a week before the conference is set to convene on Wednesday, November 18, the Administration has refused to release any information regarding the event's location, time, agenda or attendees.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) is concerned that the administration is withholding details on the conference as a means of preventing legitimate small business concerns, small business advocates and the media from attending.
"This is a clear indication that President Obama has no intention of adopting any policies that will actually benefit legitimate small businesses. My guess is that this is going to be a love-fest for his venture capitalist buddies and the Fortune 500 firms he is giving small business contracts to every day," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
The ASBL is predicting that the meeting could actually propose creating a loophole that would divert federal small business contracts away from legitimate small businesses and into the hands of wealthy venture capitalists under the guise of "increasing access to capital" for small businesses. The ASBL is concerned that in a worst-case scenario President Obama may even try to wind down federal small business contracting programs under the guise of bolstering the SBA by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The ASBL questions the motives of President Obama and the legitimacy of the conference as a whole.
"Obviously they don't want media coverage of their sham small business conference and they clearly don't want any input from legitimate small business advocates," Chapman said. The administration's strategy may be to prevent input from small business groups that have complained about the Obama Administration awarding millions of dollars a day in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 corporations, including stimulus dollars, according to the ASBL.
The ASBL points to the fact that the Administration has allocated less than 1 percent of stimulus funds to small businesses.
In a recent post, blogger Arianna Huffington criticized President's Obama's plan to hold a small business conference and took aim at his priorities by stating, "If this [small business lending] were really a high-priority for the administration, it could, you know, actually do something about it."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/barack-obama-is-doing-my_b_334631.html
"If President Obama really wanted to help small businesses he would have honored his February 2008 campaign promise to, 'end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants,' but he hasn't done that has he?” Chapman said.
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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=IXAg0XRROIs
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Obama Stimulus Plan Fails Middle Class
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in the month of October, its highest point in 26 years.
Small business advocates like the American Small Business League (ASBL) believe the unemployment rate continues to soar because the Obama Administration's economic stimulus plan has virtually ignored middle class firms.
Firms with 20 or fewer employees are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html To date the Obama Administration has awarded less than one percent of all funds allocated under the stimulus to those firms.
In February of 2008, President Obama released the statement, "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 The statement is based on a series of federal investigations, which have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest companies around the world. http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html
The ASBL estimates that since President Obama took office over $100 billion in federal contracts were diverted to corporate giants around the world.
Despite pledging to address these issues, the Obama Administration has consistently refused to adopt any legislation or policy to solve the problem. Consequently, Fortune 500 firms like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls Royce, and French giant Thales Communications continue to receive federal small business contracts. The most recent data released by the Obama Administration lists Fortune 500 corporation, Textron Inc. as the largest recipient of federal small business contracts. Textron has 43,000 employees.
"If President Obama really wants to stimulate our nation's economy and create new jobs, he needs to help pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "H.R. 2568 offers the most efficient and cost effective method anyone has proposed to redirect federal infrastructure spending to small businesses. It would also solve the 10-year-old contracting scandal the Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General referred to as, 'one of the most important challenges facing the small business administration and the entire federal government today.' "
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
November 9, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in the month of October, its highest point in 26 years.
Small business advocates like the American Small Business League (ASBL) believe the unemployment rate continues to soar because the Obama Administration's economic stimulus plan has virtually ignored middle class firms.
Firms with 20 or fewer employees are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html To date the Obama Administration has awarded less than one percent of all funds allocated under the stimulus to those firms.
In February of 2008, President Obama released the statement, "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 The statement is based on a series of federal investigations, which have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest companies around the world. http://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html
The ASBL estimates that since President Obama took office over $100 billion in federal contracts were diverted to corporate giants around the world.
Despite pledging to address these issues, the Obama Administration has consistently refused to adopt any legislation or policy to solve the problem. Consequently, Fortune 500 firms like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls Royce, and French giant Thales Communications continue to receive federal small business contracts. The most recent data released by the Obama Administration lists Fortune 500 corporation, Textron Inc. as the largest recipient of federal small business contracts. Textron has 43,000 employees.
"If President Obama really wants to stimulate our nation's economy and create new jobs, he needs to help pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "H.R. 2568 offers the most efficient and cost effective method anyone has proposed to redirect federal infrastructure spending to small businesses. It would also solve the 10-year-old contracting scandal the Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General referred to as, 'one of the most important challenges facing the small business administration and the entire federal government today.' "
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Obama's First Year Short Changes Small Businesses
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - A year after being elected, President Barack Obama's small business policies don't seem to match his campaign promises to America's 27 million small businesses.
President Obama earned the support of small business groups during his campaign by making several key promises. President Obama promised to:
- Restore the Small Business Administration's (SBA) budget and staffing. To date, the SBA's budget is less than what it was at the end of the Clinton Administration. During the Bush Administration the SBA's budget and staffing was cut by more than half. Despite promising to bolster the agency, the Obama Administration has failed to refill key positions, or restore the agency's budget. Today, the SBA's staff is at a 30 year low. http://obama.3cdn.net/d14eb1b3649c4d6745_0evzmv02w.pdf
- Restore the SBA Administrator to a cabinet level position. Despite encouragement from both Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, President Obama has refused to restore the SBA's Administrator to cabinet level status. http://sbc.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=307468
- Implement the congressionally mandated 5-percent set-aside goal for women owned firms. To date, the Obama Administration has failed to honor that promise. http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/SmallBusinessFINAL.pdf
- "End the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Since 2003, more than 15 federal investigations have found that billions in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms in the U.S. and some of the biggest firms in Europe and Asia. In February of 2008, President Obama acknowledged the magnitude of the problem by releasing the statement, "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
In the most recent data released by the Obama Administration, Textron, a Fortune 500 firm with more than 43,000 employees was the top recipient of federal small business contracts. Other firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, French giant Thales Communications, Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and Finmeccanica SpA which is located in Italy with 73,000 employees, were included in the Obama Administration's small business contracting data. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf
To date the Obama Administration has failed to take any action to honor that promise.
"American small businesses need more than speeches from President Obama. Every day he's been in office, government small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. He's given small businesses less than one percent of the stimulus funds. That's the real Obama plan for small business," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
November 5, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. - A year after being elected, President Barack Obama's small business policies don't seem to match his campaign promises to America's 27 million small businesses.
President Obama earned the support of small business groups during his campaign by making several key promises. President Obama promised to:
- Restore the Small Business Administration's (SBA) budget and staffing. To date, the SBA's budget is less than what it was at the end of the Clinton Administration. During the Bush Administration the SBA's budget and staffing was cut by more than half. Despite promising to bolster the agency, the Obama Administration has failed to refill key positions, or restore the agency's budget. Today, the SBA's staff is at a 30 year low. http://obama.3cdn.net/d14eb1b3649c4d6745_0evzmv02w.pdf
- Restore the SBA Administrator to a cabinet level position. Despite encouragement from both Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, President Obama has refused to restore the SBA's Administrator to cabinet level status. http://sbc.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=307468
- Implement the congressionally mandated 5-percent set-aside goal for women owned firms. To date, the Obama Administration has failed to honor that promise. http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/SmallBusinessFINAL.pdf
- "End the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Since 2003, more than 15 federal investigations have found that billions in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms in the U.S. and some of the biggest firms in Europe and Asia. In February of 2008, President Obama acknowledged the magnitude of the problem by releasing the statement, "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
In the most recent data released by the Obama Administration, Textron, a Fortune 500 firm with more than 43,000 employees was the top recipient of federal small business contracts. Other firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, French giant Thales Communications, Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and Finmeccanica SpA which is located in Italy with 73,000 employees, were included in the Obama Administration's small business contracting data. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf
To date the Obama Administration has failed to take any action to honor that promise.
"American small businesses need more than speeches from President Obama. Every day he's been in office, government small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms. He's given small businesses less than one percent of the stimulus funds. That's the real Obama plan for small business," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Details of Obama Small Business Conference Remain a Mystery
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – Two weeks after President Barack Obama announced a special conference to discuss increasing the flow of credit to small businesses, no information about the date, time, location or attendees has been made available.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) is skeptical about the true purpose of the conference. The ASBL predicts that the actual purpose of the meeting will be to try and change the long standing federal definition of a small business as "independently owned" to include firms owned by wealthy venture capitalists that backed President Obama's campaign.
"If this conference does take place, I doubt there will be one person in the room like myself who has a documentable track record of fighting for legitimate small businesses. I'm sure there will be sham small business groups that are actually backed by the Fortune 500 corporations that are currently receiving most federal small business contracts. There will also be a significant number of venture capitalists that are trying to highjack federal small business programs," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
The ASBL is concerned that not only will the conference not help small businesses, but a proposal may even come out of the conference to close the SBA under the guise of bolstering the agency by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce. In the past, combining small agencies with the Commerce Department has been a technique used in Washington by previous administrations to quietly close agencies. The Minority Business Development Agency was essentially closed in this way.
If President Obama wants to help small businesses he needs to make good on his campaign promise 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 The best way to do that is for him to pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contacting Act of 2009. This bill would redirect over $100 billion a year in current federal infrastructure spending to the middle class firms where nearly all new jobs are created. http://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf
According to the most recent data released by the Obama Administration billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to firms like: Textron, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce and French firm Thales Communications. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf
In February of 2009, Obama officials awarded a $128 million small business contract to, Fortune 500 firm, Bechtel Bettis Inc. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf
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November 4, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – Two weeks after President Barack Obama announced a special conference to discuss increasing the flow of credit to small businesses, no information about the date, time, location or attendees has been made available.
The American Small Business League (ASBL) is skeptical about the true purpose of the conference. The ASBL predicts that the actual purpose of the meeting will be to try and change the long standing federal definition of a small business as "independently owned" to include firms owned by wealthy venture capitalists that backed President Obama's campaign.
"If this conference does take place, I doubt there will be one person in the room like myself who has a documentable track record of fighting for legitimate small businesses. I'm sure there will be sham small business groups that are actually backed by the Fortune 500 corporations that are currently receiving most federal small business contracts. There will also be a significant number of venture capitalists that are trying to highjack federal small business programs," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
The ASBL is concerned that not only will the conference not help small businesses, but a proposal may even come out of the conference to close the SBA under the guise of bolstering the agency by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce. In the past, combining small agencies with the Commerce Department has been a technique used in Washington by previous administrations to quietly close agencies. The Minority Business Development Agency was essentially closed in this way.
If President Obama wants to help small businesses he needs to make good on his campaign promise 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 The best way to do that is for him to pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contacting Act of 2009. This bill would redirect over $100 billion a year in current federal infrastructure spending to the middle class firms where nearly all new jobs are created. http://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf
According to the most recent data released by the Obama Administration billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to firms like: Textron, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce and French firm Thales Communications. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf
In February of 2009, Obama officials awarded a $128 million small business contract to, Fortune 500 firm, Bechtel Bettis Inc. http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf
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Monday, November 2, 2009
Questions for SBA Administrator Karen Mills from the American Small Business League
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2009
Questions for SBA Administrator Karen Mills from the American Small Business League
Petaluma, Calif. - In February of 2008, President Obama released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Every year since 2006, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) has released a report, which listed the agency's #1 management challenge as, "Procurement flaws allow large firms to obtain small business awards and agencies to count contracts performed by large firms towards their small business goals."
(http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php, http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba/oig_reports_tmc_fy09.pdf)
Since 2003, over 15 federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a year in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest corporations in the world. The most recent statistics released by the Obama Administration indicate that hundreds of Fortune 500 corporations, their subsidiaries and other large businesses were included in the government's fiscal year (FY) 2008 small business contracting data. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
Firms that received federal small business contracts included: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, GTSI, L-3 Communications, British Aerospace (BAE), Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Thales, General Dynamics, 3M, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Rolls-Royce and Dell Computer.
Despite the fact that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations is the SBA's #1 challenge, Administrator Karen Mills has refused to mention the issue or adopt any policies to address it. The American Small Business League (ASBL) believes it is time for someone in the media to question Ms. Mills about the Obama Administration's refusal to address this pressing issue.
- Will the Obama Administration support federal legislation or policy that would allow wealthy venture capitalists to participate in federal small business contracting programs?
- Considering the fact that America is in the midst of its worst economic downturn in 80 years, why is the Obama Administration continuing to allow contracts to Fortune 500 firms to be counted as small business awards?
- Will any contracts to Fortune 500 corporations and their subsidiaries be included in the government's small business contracting statistics for FY 2009?
- Why hasn't the Obama Administration adopted polices or legislation to end the diversion of federal small business contacts to corporate giants?
- In February of 2009, the Obama Administration awarded a $128 million contract to Bechtel as a small business, how would you justify that to the millions of small businesses who are struggling to keep their doors open? (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf)
- Is there any truth to the rumor that the Obama Administration may try to close the SBA by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce?
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November 2, 2009
Questions for SBA Administrator Karen Mills from the American Small Business League
Petaluma, Calif. - In February of 2008, President Obama released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." Every year since 2006, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) has released a report, which listed the agency's #1 management challenge as, "Procurement flaws allow large firms to obtain small business awards and agencies to count contracts performed by large firms towards their small business goals."
(http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php, http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba/oig_reports_tmc_fy09.pdf)
Since 2003, over 15 federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a year in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest corporations in the world. The most recent statistics released by the Obama Administration indicate that hundreds of Fortune 500 corporations, their subsidiaries and other large businesses were included in the government's fiscal year (FY) 2008 small business contracting data. (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)
Firms that received federal small business contracts included: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, GTSI, L-3 Communications, British Aerospace (BAE), Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Thales, General Dynamics, 3M, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Rolls-Royce and Dell Computer.
Despite the fact that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations is the SBA's #1 challenge, Administrator Karen Mills has refused to mention the issue or adopt any policies to address it. The American Small Business League (ASBL) believes it is time for someone in the media to question Ms. Mills about the Obama Administration's refusal to address this pressing issue.
- Will the Obama Administration support federal legislation or policy that would allow wealthy venture capitalists to participate in federal small business contracting programs?
- Considering the fact that America is in the midst of its worst economic downturn in 80 years, why is the Obama Administration continuing to allow contracts to Fortune 500 firms to be counted as small business awards?
- Will any contracts to Fortune 500 corporations and their subsidiaries be included in the government's small business contracting statistics for FY 2009?
- Why hasn't the Obama Administration adopted polices or legislation to end the diversion of federal small business contacts to corporate giants?
- In February of 2009, the Obama Administration awarded a $128 million contract to Bechtel as a small business, how would you justify that to the millions of small businesses who are struggling to keep their doors open? (http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf)
- Is there any truth to the rumor that the Obama Administration may try to close the SBA by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce?
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Obama's Plan to Help Small Businesses Evaporates
Petaluma, Calif. - Last week, President Obama announced his administration's plan for a, "New Small Business Lending Initiative." The new initiative is the next installment in a series of speeches by President Obama, which have yet to yield any results for the small business community.
In his speech President Obama stated, "This administration is going to stand behind small businesses. You are our highest priority because we are confident that when you are succeeding, America succeeds." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-small-business-initiatives-landover-md) Over the past year, President Obama promised to restore the Small Business Administration's (SBA) budget, restore the SBA Administrator to a cabinet level position, implement the 5 percent set-aside goal for women owned firms, and stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. To date, none of these promises have been honored. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
Since the recession began, the government has spent roughly $2.8 trillion to stimulate our nation's economy. (http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/bailouttracker/) President Obama stated that stimulus spending has led to small businesses receiving $13 billion in new loans and $4.3 billion in federal contracts, for a total of $17.3 billion. That means small businesses have received only 0.6 percent out of the $2.8 trillion in stimulus funds invested by the government. In comparison, AIG received $180 billion in taxpayer money, while America's 27 million small businesses have received $17.3 billion.
Regarding the new initiative, Keith Girard in Allbusiness.com stated, "whether they [Obama Administration] will get desperately needed capital to small businesses in a meaningful way is problematic at best." (http://www.allbusiness.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-conditions-depression/13271042-1.html) On the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington stated, "if this were really a high-priority for the administration, it could, you know, actually do something about it. Right now. The executive branch has plenty of weapons at its disposal to force banks still dependent on billions of dollars in taxpayer funds and guarantees to change behavior." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/barack-obama-is-doing-my_b_334631.html)
Last year President Obama stated that for every billion dollars spent, 40,000 new jobs would be created. (http://bit.ly/2eiyas) Based on the Obama Administration's estimates regarding job creation, stimulus spending to date should have created 640,000 jobs, however, a recent report has revealed that only 30,383 jobs have been created. (http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx)
On August 18, President Obama announced a government-wide plan led by SBA Administrator Karen Mills and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to increase contracting opportunities for small businesses. The plan included over 200 events nationwide within 90 days; over 70 days after the announcement no schedule of these events has been released. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/news_release_09-58.pdf)
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In his speech President Obama stated, "This administration is going to stand behind small businesses. You are our highest priority because we are confident that when you are succeeding, America succeeds." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-small-business-initiatives-landover-md) Over the past year, President Obama promised to restore the Small Business Administration's (SBA) budget, restore the SBA Administrator to a cabinet level position, implement the 5 percent set-aside goal for women owned firms, and stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants. To date, none of these promises have been honored. (http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)
Since the recession began, the government has spent roughly $2.8 trillion to stimulate our nation's economy. (http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/bailouttracker/) President Obama stated that stimulus spending has led to small businesses receiving $13 billion in new loans and $4.3 billion in federal contracts, for a total of $17.3 billion. That means small businesses have received only 0.6 percent out of the $2.8 trillion in stimulus funds invested by the government. In comparison, AIG received $180 billion in taxpayer money, while America's 27 million small businesses have received $17.3 billion.
Regarding the new initiative, Keith Girard in Allbusiness.com stated, "whether they [Obama Administration] will get desperately needed capital to small businesses in a meaningful way is problematic at best." (http://www.allbusiness.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-conditions-depression/13271042-1.html) On the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington stated, "if this were really a high-priority for the administration, it could, you know, actually do something about it. Right now. The executive branch has plenty of weapons at its disposal to force banks still dependent on billions of dollars in taxpayer funds and guarantees to change behavior." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/barack-obama-is-doing-my_b_334631.html)
Last year President Obama stated that for every billion dollars spent, 40,000 new jobs would be created. (http://bit.ly/2eiyas) Based on the Obama Administration's estimates regarding job creation, stimulus spending to date should have created 640,000 jobs, however, a recent report has revealed that only 30,383 jobs have been created. (http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx)
On August 18, President Obama announced a government-wide plan led by SBA Administrator Karen Mills and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to increase contracting opportunities for small businesses. The plan included over 200 events nationwide within 90 days; over 70 days after the announcement no schedule of these events has been released. (http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/news_release_09-58.pdf)
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Monday, October 26, 2009
Upcoming Obama Conference Could Be Bad News for Small Business
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – On Wednesday, October 21, President Barack Obama announced plans to convene a conference of "regulators, congressional leaders, lenders and small businesses to determine what additional steps we can take to get credit flowing to small businesses that want to expand and create more jobs." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/Remarks_by_obama_on_small_business_initiatives.pdf)
Small business groups like the American Small Business League (ASBL) are concerned the real agenda of the upcoming Obama Administration small business conference will be to adopt legislation and policy that will change the definition of a small business and divert federal small business contracts to wealthy venture capitalists. (http://www.vcjnews.com/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=46450)
The Small Business Act requires that a small business be "independently owned." Firms that are owned and controlled by venture capitalists are not considered small businesses in federal small business contracting and grant programs.
The venture capital industry, led by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has spent millions of dollars lobbying members of Congress to change the current definition of a small business to allow even billionaire venture capitalists to participate in federal small business contracting programs. (http://maplight.org/map/us/interest/F2500)
During his 2003 race for a seat in the U.S. Senate, President Obama developed deep ties within the venture capital industry. Since then, President Obama has received significant contributions from the NVCA and its members.
Both the House and Senate small business committees have attempted to pass legislation that could destroy millions of legitimate small businesses by diverting billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to wealthy venture capitalists that have contributed millions of dollars to key democratic leaders in Congress.
House Small Business Committee Chair Nydia M. Velázquez (D - NY) introduced H.R. 3567, Small Business Investment Expansion Act of 2007, which would have changed the definition of a small business for all federal programs to include firms owned and controlled by venture capitalists. In a story titled, "Velázquez Champions VC Firms at Small Business Expense," by Keith Girard, AllBusiness.com, Velázquez was accused of "quarterbacking the venture capital industry's efforts." (http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/business-climate-conditions/9077284-1.html)
"I predict that President Obama will try to cheat legitimate small businesses by diverting billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to his wealthy venture capitalist contributors under the guise of 'increasing access to capital for small businesses,' " ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
October 26, 2009
Petaluma, Calif. – On Wednesday, October 21, President Barack Obama announced plans to convene a conference of "regulators, congressional leaders, lenders and small businesses to determine what additional steps we can take to get credit flowing to small businesses that want to expand and create more jobs." (http://www.asbl.com/documents/Remarks_by_obama_on_small_business_initiatives.pdf)
Small business groups like the American Small Business League (ASBL) are concerned the real agenda of the upcoming Obama Administration small business conference will be to adopt legislation and policy that will change the definition of a small business and divert federal small business contracts to wealthy venture capitalists. (http://www.vcjnews.com/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=46450)
The Small Business Act requires that a small business be "independently owned." Firms that are owned and controlled by venture capitalists are not considered small businesses in federal small business contracting and grant programs.
The venture capital industry, led by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has spent millions of dollars lobbying members of Congress to change the current definition of a small business to allow even billionaire venture capitalists to participate in federal small business contracting programs. (http://maplight.org/map/us/interest/F2500)
During his 2003 race for a seat in the U.S. Senate, President Obama developed deep ties within the venture capital industry. Since then, President Obama has received significant contributions from the NVCA and its members.
Both the House and Senate small business committees have attempted to pass legislation that could destroy millions of legitimate small businesses by diverting billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to wealthy venture capitalists that have contributed millions of dollars to key democratic leaders in Congress.
House Small Business Committee Chair Nydia M. Velázquez (D - NY) introduced H.R. 3567, Small Business Investment Expansion Act of 2007, which would have changed the definition of a small business for all federal programs to include firms owned and controlled by venture capitalists. In a story titled, "Velázquez Champions VC Firms at Small Business Expense," by Keith Girard, AllBusiness.com, Velázquez was accused of "quarterbacking the venture capital industry's efforts." (http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/business-climate-conditions/9077284-1.html)
"I predict that President Obama will try to cheat legitimate small businesses by diverting billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to his wealthy venture capitalist contributors under the guise of 'increasing access to capital for small businesses,' " ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.
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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
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