WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) was reappointed as the Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship following formal ratification by the Senate last night.  Senator Snowe has been a member of the committee since coming to the Senate in 1995, and has served in a leadership capacity since 2003.

“I am deeply honored to be reappointed as Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.  There is significant work for all of us in the Senate to accomplish throughout the 112th Congress, not the least of which is putting jobless Americans back to work,” said Ranking Member Snowe. “The Small Business Committee will be vital in the effort to help foster a market-based entrepreneurial environment where our nation’s almost 30 million small businesses are freed up to do what they do best – create new jobs.  I welcome my five new Republican colleagues to the Committee, and I look forward to working with them to conduct vigorous oversight of the Small Business Administration – and root out fraud, abuse, and inefficiencies in that agency’s programs – as well as to reduce the regulatory burden and make health care affordable for small businesses.”

New Republican members of the Small Business Committee include Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who join Ranking Member Snowe and current members David Vitter (R-La.), James Risch (R-Idaho), and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).

Senator Snowe will also continue in her role as a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance, a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a senior member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, is expected to be reappointed as Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard when a vote is held at a later date.