While President Bush has made dozens of speeches referring to his support for small businesses of America, the reality is quite different. Since the Bush Administration came into power, the Small Business Administration’s budget has been cut in half. The 2006 budget is $593 million, down from $1.1 billion in 2001. To put this into perspective, the Pentagon budget is just under $400 billion. Undisclosed sources at the SBA have acknowledged that the Bush Administration is attempting to “starve the SBA to death.”
As a result of the budget cuts, personnel at the SBA that handle size protests, minority and disadvantaged business and government contracts have been specifically targeted for layoffs and early retirement. The SBA has now been downsized to the point that it is unable to effectively manage its major programs.
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