(Washington, DC)–U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) today issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s Fiscal Year 2021 Budget, which proposes millions in additional loan fee increases on small businesses, as well as severe cuts to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) critical small business counseling programs:
“With women and minorities driving growth in new business formation, SBA needs more resources to address the specific, historic barriers that entrepreneurs from underserved communities face, not fewer. Unfortunately, the administration’s FY2021 Budget, with its 36 percent cut to business counseling programs and millions of dollars in loan fee increases, is just like the last three budgets: bad for business. As we did last year, I call on Congress to once again reject these harmful cuts.”
Specifically, the Trump administration’s FY2021 Budget proposes the following cuts to programs that benefit small businesses:
- a 35 percent cut to funding for Small Business Development Centers, which provide targeted counseling to small businesses across the country so that they have the tools they need to improve their capacity and increase their productivity;
- increased loan fees on the thousands of businesses participating in SBA loan programs, leading to increased borrowing costs for small, local businesses seeking to grow; and
- a 20 percent cut to the SBA’s Microloan program, and a 28 percent cut to the agency’s Microloan Technical Assistance program, both of which serve more women, minority and rural small businesses than other SBA lending programs.
