WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, today praised President Obama for committing to keep the recently elevated position of Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) at the Cabinet level regardless of an agency reorganization.

In a January 30, 2012, interview presented by YouTube and Google+, President Obama said, “I elevated the SBA Administrator to a Cabinet level position so that they are talking directly to me, there’s nobody in between me and the SBA when they are advocating on behalf of small businesses… I’ll still have a SBA Administrator in my Cabinet who’s advocating directly just for small businesses.”

Senator Snowe said, “It is essential that the President abide by his pledge made during Monday’s interview and keep the SBA Administrator as a Cabinet-level position, regardless of the whether or not his reorganization proposal moves forward. This will help ensure that the voice of small business is heard loud and clear in the Administration’s most important meetings regarding our nation’s economy. This is a critical time for our country’s economic recovery, and we cannot allow further uncertainty for our nation’s small businesses.”

BACKGROUND: Senator Snowe, as Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has long led the charge to re-elevate the SBA Administrator to a Cabinet-level position, as was the case during the Clinton Administration. In December 2008, she wrote to then-President-Elect Obama advocating for the change. She has consistently asserted since that such action would help promote the resources of the Federal government available to small businesses.

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