Tuesday, May 13, 2008
ASBL President Lloyd Chapman Speaks Out About the Potential Hazards of H.R. 5819
Please visit the following link to learn more about H.R. 5819 and how it could impact your small business. (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1025)
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
ASBL Newsletter - "The Voice" - for May 2008 Released
The American Small Business League has released its May 2008 newsletter. The newsletter includes informaiton on recent news items in federal small business contracting. Special to this issue, the ASBL team has compiled 11 comments from members of the House of Representatives who supported small businesses and voted against H.R. 5819, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act during the House Floor vote. Check it out by clicking the following link: "The Voice" May 2008
http://www.asbl.com/may08news.pdf
Additionally, we have launched a campaign to increase the visibility of this issue. We are asking all of our members and supporters to visit http://www.asbl.com/campaign_form.php and submit a comment to the staff of NBC Nightly News. To submit a comment, all you need to do is fill in your first name, last name and email address and then click submit. Your support is greatly appreciated in helping to raise the awareness of all small business owners on the severity of this issue.
http://www.asbl.com/may08news.pdf
Additionally, we have launched a campaign to increase the visibility of this issue. We are asking all of our members and supporters to visit http://www.asbl.com/campaign_form.php and submit a comment to the staff of NBC Nightly News. To submit a comment, all you need to do is fill in your first name, last name and email address and then click submit. Your support is greatly appreciated in helping to raise the awareness of all small business owners on the severity of this issue.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
House opens SBIR awards to VC-owned firms
The Following story ran in the Jacksonville Business Journal Regarding H.R. 5819, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act.
House opens SBIR awards to VC-owned firms
By Kent Hoover
The House passed legislation that would make small businesses majority-owned by venture capital firms eligible for Small Business Innovation Research awards.
Through the SBIR program, 2.5 percent of the outside research budgets of 11 federal agencies -- including the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health -- is allocated for small businesses. The program, which funds around $2.3 billion in research every year, has helped thousands of small firms turn promising ideas into real-world applications.
Since 2003, however, the SBIR program has been dogged by controversy over what constitutes a small business. That is when the SBA ruled that a company no longer qualifies as a small business if venture capital firms have an equity stake of 50 percent of more in the company.
To read more please click the following link: (http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2008/05/05/bureau1.html?market=jacksonville)
The American Small Business League (ASBL) has launched a national campaign against H.R. 5819 and has taken a strong stance against amending the definition of a small business as "independently owned" to include firms owned and controlled by billionaire venture capitalists. With that in mind, the ASBL encourages all small business owners and concerned citizens to contact their Senators and the office of Senator Kerry (D - MA) to express their concerns regarding H.R. 5819. Tell them that you are opposed to amending the definition of a small business from "independently owned" to include firms owned and controlled by billionaire venture capitalists and that you are opposed to the inappropriate subsidization of well-capitalized businesses.
Please visit the ASBL Action Center at http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1030 for more information on what you can do to help put a stop to H.R. 5819.
Additionally, please visit the following link to a great story on the connection between Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, H.R. 5819 and the National Venture Capital Association and big pharmaceutical interests.
Velázquez Champions VC Firms at Small Business Expense
By Keith Girard
Allbusiness.com
April 24, 2008
http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/business-climate-conditions/9077284-1.html
House opens SBIR awards to VC-owned firms
By Kent Hoover
The House passed legislation that would make small businesses majority-owned by venture capital firms eligible for Small Business Innovation Research awards.
Through the SBIR program, 2.5 percent of the outside research budgets of 11 federal agencies -- including the Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health -- is allocated for small businesses. The program, which funds around $2.3 billion in research every year, has helped thousands of small firms turn promising ideas into real-world applications.
Since 2003, however, the SBIR program has been dogged by controversy over what constitutes a small business. That is when the SBA ruled that a company no longer qualifies as a small business if venture capital firms have an equity stake of 50 percent of more in the company.
To read more please click the following link: (http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/extraedge/washingtonbureau/archive/2008/05/05/bureau1.html?market=jacksonville)
The American Small Business League (ASBL) has launched a national campaign against H.R. 5819 and has taken a strong stance against amending the definition of a small business as "independently owned" to include firms owned and controlled by billionaire venture capitalists. With that in mind, the ASBL encourages all small business owners and concerned citizens to contact their Senators and the office of Senator Kerry (D - MA) to express their concerns regarding H.R. 5819. Tell them that you are opposed to amending the definition of a small business from "independently owned" to include firms owned and controlled by billionaire venture capitalists and that you are opposed to the inappropriate subsidization of well-capitalized businesses.
Please visit the ASBL Action Center at http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1030 for more information on what you can do to help put a stop to H.R. 5819.
Additionally, please visit the following link to a great story on the connection between Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, H.R. 5819 and the National Venture Capital Association and big pharmaceutical interests.
Velázquez Champions VC Firms at Small Business Expense
By Keith Girard
Allbusiness.com
April 24, 2008
http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/business-climate-conditions/9077284-1.html
Friday, April 25, 2008
Hypocrisy Runs Deep for Representative Velázquez
The nomination by President Bush last week of Steven Preston to take over as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sent chills through the small business community and has left many small business advocates outraged. One of those who appears to be outraged is Representative Nydia M. Velázquez (D - NY), Chair of the House Committee on Small Business and New York City's senior Member on the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
In a statement released last week, Rep. Velázquez stated, "…the fact remains the agency Mr. Preston has been responsible for leading [SBA] is still plagued by serious problems of its own. Large businesses continue getting small business contracts, SBA's Katrina disaster relief program is a failure, and morale of the agency's personnel is one of the lowest in the federal government." I would like to highlight the section of this quote where Rep. Velazquez clearly states that "Large businesses continue getting small business contracts."
It is interesting that Rep. Velázquez has been Chair of the House Committee on Small Business since January of 2007 and has yet to introduce a single piece of legislation that will end the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to large and Fortune 1000 firms every year. In fact, she is responsible for pushing through (in less than a week) H.R. 5819, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act, which will open up a gigantic loophole for venture capital participation in the SBIR program and set a dangerous precedent to allow billionaire venture capital firms access to billions of dollars in federal small business contracts. The Chair of the House Committee on Small Business likes to bluster about the importance of small businesses while at the same time giving away small business contracts and grants to billionaire venture capitalists.
I would like Rep. Velázquez to follow though on rhetoric. If she is really outraged at Preston's failure to stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to large firms, then she MUST draft legislation that will ensure small business contracts go to legitimate small businesses.
In a statement released last week, Rep. Velázquez stated, "…the fact remains the agency Mr. Preston has been responsible for leading [SBA] is still plagued by serious problems of its own. Large businesses continue getting small business contracts, SBA's Katrina disaster relief program is a failure, and morale of the agency's personnel is one of the lowest in the federal government." I would like to highlight the section of this quote where Rep. Velazquez clearly states that "Large businesses continue getting small business contracts."
It is interesting that Rep. Velázquez has been Chair of the House Committee on Small Business since January of 2007 and has yet to introduce a single piece of legislation that will end the diversion of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to large and Fortune 1000 firms every year. In fact, she is responsible for pushing through (in less than a week) H.R. 5819, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act, which will open up a gigantic loophole for venture capital participation in the SBIR program and set a dangerous precedent to allow billionaire venture capital firms access to billions of dollars in federal small business contracts. The Chair of the House Committee on Small Business likes to bluster about the importance of small businesses while at the same time giving away small business contracts and grants to billionaire venture capitalists.
I would like Rep. Velázquez to follow though on rhetoric. If she is really outraged at Preston's failure to stop the diversion of federal small business contracts to large firms, then she MUST draft legislation that will ensure small business contracts go to legitimate small businesses.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Bush Small Business Rhetoric a Stark Contrast to Administration Policies
Bush praises Small Businesses while moving to end all federal programs to assist small businesses.
Petaluma, Calif. - On Tuesday, President George W. Bush issued Proclamation 8241, which stated, "Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and my Administration is committed to fostering an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit can thrive." However, an examination of the Bush Administration's policies from the last seven years reveals a patchwork of anti-small business policies that have been instituted to the detriment of small businesses across the nation.
To read more, please click here: http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1033
Petaluma, Calif. - On Tuesday, President George W. Bush issued Proclamation 8241, which stated, "Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and my Administration is committed to fostering an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit can thrive." However, an examination of the Bush Administration's policies from the last seven years reveals a patchwork of anti-small business policies that have been instituted to the detriment of small businesses across the nation.
To read more, please click here: http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1033
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Small Business Administration Stalls Release of PR Executives E-mails
SBA PR executive's e-mail shows evidence of an aggressive campaign to kill stories on contracting abuses.
Petaluma, Calif. - The Small Business Administration (SBA) is delaying the release of SBA Press Office Director, Mike Stamler's inbound and outbound e-mails from 2006 and 2007. The American Small Business League (ASBL) requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The ASBL requested Stamler's e-mails after it discovered that Stamler had sent a number of aggressive and threatening e-mails to journalists and publications which ran stories on ASBL's efforts. Specifically, the ASBL's effort to expose the diversion of federal small business contracts to Fortune 1000 firms. The ASBL has also received information from journalists that Stamler has made a number of libelous statements about the ASBL and its President, Lloyd Chapman.
The ASBL believes the SBA's decision to stall the release of Stamler's e-mails is an attempt to allow SBA attorneys more time to review Stamler's communications and scrub them of any damaging information. The ASBL believes that Stamler's emails will indicate that the SBA has made a significant effort to pressure journalists into dropping stories on the diversion of federal small business contracts to major corporations.
"Mike Stamler has been browbeating, threatening and bullying journalists to drop this story for years," President of the ASBL, Lloyd Chapman said. "Our goal is to simply uncover the facts and expose the SBA's campaign to discredit the ASBL and to mislead Congress, the public and the media on this issue. SBA Administrator Steven Preston is obviously stalling the release of Stamler's e-mails so they can remove all the damaging information."
"Mr. Stamler wants to impugn my credibility with the media, but he knows that I have won every federal lawsuit I have filed against the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA (http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=223) and the SBA. He also knows that information I provided prompted the first General Accounting Office (GAO) investigation (http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03704t.pdf ) and the first Congressional hearing into the diversion of government small business contracts to Fortune 1000 firms. He knows I provided information to the SBA that resulted in the removal of 600 large businesses (http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/17_22/20094-1.html) from the SBA's small business database. He also knows I worked with the SBA's Office of Inspector General and provided information that led to one firm being recommended for debarment and a second firm paying a $1 million fine for misrepresenting themselves as a small business," Chapman stated. (http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=33735&ref=rellink)
In one example, Stamler sent an e-mail to the Long Island Business Journal that was so aggressive and profane that it prompted LIBJ Staff Writer, Ambrose Clancy to write a piece on the paper's blog entitled, "Expletives the SBA's forte?" (http://libizblog.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/expletives-the-sbas-forte/)
In other cases, Stamler has threatened to remove publications that ran stories on the SBA's role in the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses from the SBA's media list.
Stamler has reportedly made hostile and aggressive calls to journalists, editors and publishers that were preparing to publish stories on the issue and tried to bully or pressure them into dropping the stories.
The ASBL is preparing to file suit against the SBA in the event that all of Stamler's 2006 and 2007 e-mails are not released promptly.
###
Additionally, today the ASBL released two press releases. Please click to the following title to view a copy of the release. "Anti-Small Business Bill Backed By Venture Capitalist Lobby Moves Through House In Record Time."
Monday, April 21, 2008
House Committee Sells Out Small Business for Big Bucks From Billionaire Venture Capitalists
Petaluma, Calif. - Members of the House Committee on Small Business are being accused of selling out America's 26 million small businesses in exchange for contributions from wealthy venture capitalists. During 2008, members of the House Committee on Small Business have been targeted with a slew of campaign contributions from the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). According to Opensecrets.org, 13 members of the committee have received contributions from NVCA this year alone. Additionally, Rep. Velázquez has been the top committee recipient of funds from NVCA during 2008.
This is the second time in less than a year that a proposal has come out of the House Committee on Small Business that will divert billions of dollars in federal contracts earmarked for small business into the hands of the nation's wealthiest venture capitalists.
To read more, please click the following link: http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1024
###
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn (at) asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
This is the second time in less than a year that a proposal has come out of the House Committee on Small Business that will divert billions of dollars in federal contracts earmarked for small business into the hands of the nation's wealthiest venture capitalists.
To read more, please click the following link: http://www.asbl.com/showmedia.php?id=1024
###
Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn (at) asbl.com
(707) 789-9575
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