WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today commented on the objection by Senate Republicans to allow the Committee to hold a hearing on the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) budget. The hearing has been postponed to a later date because a procedural unanimous consent agreement did not pass because Republicans would not consent. The Senator said:

“Over eight years under President Bush, more than a quarter of the SBA’s funding was slashed – more than any other federal agency. Year after year of cuts – combined with the worst economic downturn we have seen since the great depression – have finally caught up to small business owners, as more than 80 percent of the jobs lost last year came from small firms. Yet, while my Committee is trying to reverse this trend by making the SBA a more muscular agency and by getting money into the hands of small businesses, my Republican colleagues will not permit the Small Business Committee to even meet to discuss the budget for the single agency that aids our entrepreneurs. My colleagues’ pettiness has gone too far.”