Small Businesses Want President Obama to Answer One Question

PETALUMA, Calif., March 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was
released today by the American Small Business League:

As America slides deeper and deeper into recession, 27 million small business
owners want President Barack Obama to answer one question at his press
conference Tuesday.

Why are you allowing Fortune 500 firms to participate in government economic
stimulus contracting programs designated for small businesses?

Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have been released, which
found billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been
diverted to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of other large businesses around
the world.

A recent investigative story by the Washington Post found up to 38.5 percent
of all federal small business contracts were actually going to Fortune 500
firms alone.

In June of 2008, the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector
General found that the agency had diverted millions of dollars in small
business contracts to Fortune 500 firms such as Dell, GTSI, Home Depot, John
Deere, McGraw-Hill, Ricoh, Sherwin Williams, Starwood Hotels, Waste Management
Incorporated, Weyerhaeuser, World Wide Technology and Xerox Corporation.
(http://www.doioig.gov/upload/2008-G-0024.pdf)

The Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Inspector General referred
to the problem as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small
Business Administration (SBA) and the entire Federal Government today..."
(http://www.sba.gov/IG/05-15.pdf)

In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the dramatic negative impact
abuses in federal small business contracting programs were having on American
small businesses when he released the statement, "It is time to end the
diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."
(http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)

To date, President Obama has not followed through on his campaign promise to
America's small businesses by ending the diversion of federal small business
contracts to corporate giants.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) estimates over $100 billion a year
in economic stimulus contracts earmarked for small businesses are diverted to
Fortune 500 firms and other large businesses.

"President Obama doesn't seem to understand that 98 percent of all U.S. firms
have less than 100 employees and those firms are responsible for 97 percent of
all new jobs in America," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "If President
Obama would make good on his campaign promise, and end the diversion of
federal small business contracts to large businesses it would re-direct over
$100 billion a year in existing federal infrastructure spending directly to
small firms, create more jobs and stimulate the economy more than anything
else he has proposed so far. Someone in the White House Press Corps needs to
ask President Obama why he is allowing Fortune 500 firms to participate in
federal economic stimulus programs for small businesses."

SOURCE American Small Business League

Christopher Gunn, Communications Director, American Small Business League,
+1-707-789-9575, cgunn@asbl.com