Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez
Chairman of the House Committee on Small Business (D-NY)
Prescription: Increase funding
"The agency has been shrunk to a point of ineffectiveness, and it should be returned to the level it was at before the Bush administration took over.
In 2001, the last year of the Clinton administration, the SBA's budget was $1.1 billion. It had the resources and funding to provide loans, training and access to federal contracts. That is the model we need to return it to.
The New Markets initiative [started in 2006], which channeled venture-capital investment to distressed communities, should be revived. This is a program that showed great promise but was short-changed by funding cuts and a lack of prioritization in the Bush administration."
NEXT: Ted Dehaven
Prescription: Increase funding
"The agency has been shrunk to a point of ineffectiveness, and it should be returned to the level it was at before the Bush administration took over.
In 2001, the last year of the Clinton administration, the SBA's budget was $1.1 billion. It had the resources and funding to provide loans, training and access to federal contracts. That is the model we need to return it to.
The New Markets initiative [started in 2006], which channeled venture-capital investment to distressed communities, should be revived. This is a program that showed great promise but was short-changed by funding cuts and a lack of prioritization in the Bush administration."
NEXT: Ted Dehaven
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