Obama's First Year Short Changes Small Businesses, According to the American Small Business League

PETALUMA, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
The following is a statement by the American Small Business League:

A year after being elected, President Barack Obama`s small business policies
don`t seem to match his campaign promises to America`s 27 million small
businesses.

President Obama earned the support of small business groups during his campaign
by making several key promises. President Obama promised to:

-Restore the Small Business Administration's (SBA) budget and staffing. To date,
the SBA's budget is less than what it was at the end of the Clinton
Administration. During the Bush Administration the SBA's budget and staffing was
cut by more than half. Despite promising to bolster the agency, the Obama
Administration has failed to refill key positions, or restore the agency's
budget. Today, the SBA's staff is at a 30 year low.
http://obama.3cdn.net/d14eb1b3649c4d6745_0evzmv02w.pdf

-Restore the SBA Administrator to a cabinet level position. Despite
encouragement from both Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, President
Obama has refused to restore the SBA's Administrator to cabinet level status.
http://sbc.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=307468

-Implement the congressionally mandated 5-percent set-aside goal for women owned
firms. To date, the Obama Administration has failed to honor that promise.
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/SmallBusinessFINAL.pdf

-"End the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."
Since 2003, more than 15 federal investigations have found that billions in
federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms in the
U.S. and some of the biggest firms in Europe and Asia. In February of 2008,
President Obama acknowledged the magnitude of the problem by releasing 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

In the most recent data released by the Obama Administration, Textron, a Fortune
500 firm with more than 43,000 employees was the top recipient of federal small
business contracts. Other firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon,
Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce, French giant Thales
Communications, Ssangyong Corporation headquartered in Seoul, South Korea and
Finmeccanica SpA which is located in Italy with 73,000 employees, were included
in the Obama Administration's small business contracting data.
http://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf

To date the Obama Administration has failed to take any action to honor that
promise.

"American small businesses need more than speeches from President Obama. Every
day he`s been in office, government small business contracts have been diverted
to Fortune 500 firms. He`s given small businesses less than one percent of the
stimulus funds. That`s the real Obama plan for small business," ASBL President
Lloyd Chapman said.

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

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