U.S. Small Business Administration

Small Business Administration
Annual budget:	$1.2 billion (2023)
Total employed:	2,414 (2022)
Year created:	1953
Official website:	Office website

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Department Secretaries Lloyd Austin • Xavier Becerra • Tony Blinken • Pete Buttigieg • Miguel Cardona • Merrick Garland • Jennifer Granholm • Debra Haaland • Alejandro Mayorkas • Denis McDonough • Gina Raimondo • Julie Su (Acting) • Adrienne Todman (Acting) • Tom Vilsack • Janet Yellen

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a United States agency formed in 1953 "to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation."

Isabel Casillas Guzman is the current administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The SBA employed 2,414 people in 2022.^[1][2]

On April 3, 2019, the U.S. Senate voted 51-48 in favor of a change to chamber precedent lowering the maximum time allowed for debate on executive nominees to posts below the Cabinet level and on nominees to district court judgeships from 30 hours after invoking cloture to two.^[3]

The change was passed under a procedure, often referred to as the nuclear option, that requires 51 votes rather than 60.^[4]

It was the third use of the nuclear option in Senate history. In 2013, it was used to eliminate the 60-vote threshold to confirm presidential nominees, except those to the Supreme Court. In 2017, it was used to eliminate the 60-vote threshold required to confirm Supreme Court nominees.^[5] For more, see Filibuster and reconciliation in the United States Congress.

History

President Herbert Hoover started the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) during the Great Depression as a lending program for businesses. Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the RFC after World War II when the Smaller War Plants Corporation (SWPC) was dissolved and its power to award loans to small companies in order to acquire government defense contracts was given to the RFC. After a similar agency to the SWCP was dissolved following the Korean War, there was a push to abolish the RFC. At that point, President Dwight Eisenhower (R) proposed the creation of the Small Business Administration to advise and provide loans to small businesses. Congress signed the Small Business Act into law in 1953 forming the SBA. By 1954, the SBA began making loans to small businesses. In 1958, the Small Business Investment Company Program (SBIC) was formed in order to provide investments and equity to high-risk small businesses. The Equal Opportunity Loan Program (EOL) was formed in 1964, easing regulations on credit and collateral for business loans made to those below the poverty line.^[6]

Mission

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The official SBA mission statement is as follows:

Leadership

The administrator of the Small Business Administration is responsible for overseeing the programs that assist small businesses in obtaining loans and loan guarantees, as well as contracts, counseling sessions, and other forms of assistance.^[8]

In January 2012, President Obama elevated the administrator of the SBA to a Cabinet-level position in his administration.^[9]

Note: Missing votes will be filled in as they are researched.

Organization

The SBA is headed by the SBA Administrator, a cabinet-level position. In addition, there are various regional offices. The table below details regional offices and the areas they cover.^[10][11]

Budget

Biden administration

Trump Administration

Obama administration

Authority and responsibilities

Financial regulation in the United States

Dodd-Frank Act

Federal Reserve

Financial regulation by state

Key terms

Commercial bank • Credit union • Depository institution • Financial system • Investment banking • Securities

Hover over the above terms for definitions.

The SBA operates several lending programs for small businesses. While the SBA does not directly lend money, it does guarantee portions of loans made by banks to small businesses against defaults. According to the SBA, "SBA loan guaranty requirements and practices can change as the government alters its fiscal policy and priorities to meet current economic conditions. Therefore, you can’t rely on past policy when seeking assistance in today's market."^[12]

The SBA's lending programs also include low-interest disaster loans intended to be used to rebuild or repair damaged property, micro-loans from nonprofit micro-loan financial intermediaries up to $50,000, and the 7(a) Loan Guarantee Program, which is designed to make capital available through bank and non-bank lending institutions. In 2010, the passage of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 increased the maximum amounts of these loans to $10 million.^[12]

According to the SBA, the administration works with federal agencies to award at least 23 percent of all prime government contract dollars to small businesses. The SBA offers counseling and workshops to small businesses.^[13]

The SBA also administers the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Small Business Administration. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

See also

• U.S. Department of Commerce
• Jovita Carranza
• Regulatory Flexibility Act
• Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act

External links

• Official SBA website
• SBA on Facebook
• SBA Twitter feed
• SBA Youtube channel

Footnotes

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Gardner • A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States • Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp • Auer v. Robbins • Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council • Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe • Federal Trade Commission (FTC) v. Standard Oil Company of California • Field v. Clark • Food and Drug Administration v. Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation • Humphrey's Executor v. United States • Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) v. Chadha • J.W. Hampton Jr. & Company v. United States • Lucia v. SEC • Marshall v. Barlow's • Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency • Mistretta v. United States • National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius • National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning Company • National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. • Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan • Securities and Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corporation • Skidmore v. Swift & Co. • United States v. Lopez • United States v. Western Pacific Railroad Co. • Universal Camera Corporation v. National Labor Relations Board • Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council • Wayman v. Southard • Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service • Whitman v. American Trucking Associations • Wickard v. Filburn • Wiener v. United States Terms Adjudication (administrative state) • Administrative judge • Administrative law • Administrative law judge • Administrative state • Arbitrary-or-capricious test • Auer deference • Barrier to entry • Bootleggers and Baptists • Chevron deference (doctrine) • Civil servant • Civil service • Code of Federal Regulations • Codify (administrative state) • Comment period • Compliance costs • Congressional Record • Coordination (administrative state) • Deference (administrative state) • Direct and indirect costs (administrative state) • Enabling statute • Ex parte communication (administrative state) • Executive agency • Federal law • Federal Register • Federalism • Final rule • Formal rulemaking • Formalism (law) • Functionalism (law) • Guidance (administrative state) • Hybrid rulemaking • Incorporation by reference • Independent federal agency • Informal rulemaking • Joint resolution of disapproval (administrative state) • Major rule • Negotiated rulemaking • Nondelegation doctrine • OIRA prompt letter • Organic statute • Pragmatism (law) • Precautionary principle • Promulgate • Proposed rule • Publication rulemaking • Regulatory budget • Regulatory capture • Regulatory dark matter • Regulatory impact analysis • Regulatory policy officer • Regulatory reform officer • Regulatory review • Rent seeking • Retrospective regulatory review • Risk assessment (administrative state) • Rulemaking • Separation of powers • Significant regulatory action • Skidmore deference • Statutory authority • Substantive law and procedural law • Sue and settle • Sunset provision • Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions • United States Code • United States Statutes at Large Bibliography "Administrative Law - The 20th Century Bequeaths an 'Illegitimate Exotic' in Full and Terrifying Flower" by Stephen P. Dresch (2000) "Confronting the Administrative Threat" by Philip Hamburger and Tony Mills (2017) "Constitutionalism after the New Deal" by Cass R. Sunstein (1987) Federalist No. 23 by Alexander Hamilton (1787) "From Administrative State to Constitutional Government" by Joseph Postell (2012) "Interring the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Eric A. Posner and Adrian Vermeule (2002) "Rulemaking as Legislating" by Kathryn Watts (2015) "The Checks & Balances of the Regulatory State" by Paul R. Verkuil (2016) "The Myth of the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Keith E. Whittington and Jason Iuliano (2017) "The Progressive Origins of the Administrative State: Wilson, Goodnow, and Landis" by Ronald J. Pestritto (2007) "The Rise and Rise of the Administrative State" by Gary Lawson (1994) "The Study of Administration" by Woodrow Wilson (1887) "The Threat to Liberty" by Steven F. Hayward (2017) "Why the Modern Administrative State Is Inconsistent with the Rule of Law" by Richard A. Epstein (2008) Agencies Administrative Conference of the United States • United States Civil Service Commission • U.S. Government Accountability Office • U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs • U.S. Office of Management and Budget