ASBL: Small Business Programs in Danger as Fiscal Cliff Looms

The American Small Business League (ASBL) said that it is concerned that all federal programs to assist small businesses could be in danger while Congress and President Obama negotiate budget cuts to avoid the looming “fiscal cliff.”

According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau:

 

• Small businesses account for more than 90 percent of net new jobs in the nation;

• Employ half of the private sector workforce;

• Generate more than half of the GDP, and

• 90 percent of all U.S. exporters are small businesses.

President Obama announced plans to basically “dismantle” the Small Business Administration (SBA) by combining it with the Department of Commerce, the ASBL said. In 2008, 2010 and 2011 the League said its president, Lloyd Chapman, issued a press release predicting that President Obama would close the SBA by combining it with the Department of Commerce.

“President Obama’s proposal to save money by combining the SBA and the Department of Commerce is ridiculous,” Chapman said. “The amount of money that will be saved by combining these small agencies will be statistically insignificant. Dismantling small business programs will cost the nation millions of jobs and cause the economy irreparable harm.”

The League said that Obama claims that combing the SBA with the Department of Commerce will save $300 million per year, yet he has also proposed increasing foreign aid by around $9 billion in 2013—an amount the ASBL says could be used to fund the SBA for a decade.

The ASBL said it believes that” if President Obama does combine the SBA with the Department of Commerce, within five years, federal programs for small businesses will essentially have been abolished, which will cost our nation millions of jobs.”