NEW YORK (FORTUNE Small Business Magazine) - It has been a rough year for SBA Chief Hector Barreto Jr.

The ranking Democrat on the House Small-Business Committee, New York Representative Nydia Velazquez, recently called for his resignation, citing among other things the agency's bungling of its hurricane disaster-relief loans.

The SBA's own inspector general then reported that the majority of the SBA-backed 9/11 recovery loans he audited went to businesses that didn't feel they had been affected by the attack.

Barreto declined to comment, but a spokesman defends his boss, citing the $2 billion in Katrina-related loans the agency has granted. "We're working very hard, just as we've been doing since [Barreto] has been here," he says.

But with SBA workers reporting low job satisfaction and persistent allegations that federal contracts meant for small businesses are going to large ones, it's enough to make us wonder how bad SBA fumbling will have to be before Barreto takes the fall.

• 38% Percentage of Hurricane Katrina-related debris cleared in the Mississippi coastal counties of Hancock and Jackson, which contracted with the Army Corps of Engineers.
• 59% Percentage cleared in adjacent Harrison County, where local officials gave the job to independent contractors.

SOURCE: FEMA

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