Entrepreneur; By: David Port

Having positioned himself as a small-business ally on the campaign trail, it didn't take long for President Barack Obama to take aim at the embattled SBA. As far as small-business advocates inside and outside the Washington Beltway are concerned, any initiatives undertaken by the Obama administration to make the SBA more small-business friendly couldn't come soon enough, given the condition of the agency and the U.S. economy.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the economic stimulus package, the first major piece of legislation offered by the Obama administration, includes various provisions to aid small businesses as a means of reinvigorating the sagging U.S. economy. Count lawmakers such as Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), incoming chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, among those who are welcoming such provisions, as well as Obama's nomination of Karen G. Mills to lead the SBA, as harbingers of major--and, they say, much needed--change at the agency.

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