SBA Administrator Testifies Before Congress, Highlights Progress with Small Businesses

Although the House Committee on Small Business’ hearing was convened to address a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GOA) that criticized the SBA for its failure to implement management recommendations dating back several decades, Maria Contreras-Sweet had something else on her mind. As the U.S. SBA Administrator, and the hearing’s lone witness, she took the opportunity to instead highlight the areas where SBA has succeeded in serving America’s small business by helping them continue to grow the economy.

In her testimony, Contreras-Sweet emphasized that, despite the GOA’s criticism, 2015 was one of the most successful years in the history of the agency. SBA backed 22 percent more loans to American small businesses, with a 23 percent increase in the dollar value of those loans compared to 2014. And although lending to small businesses has increased in the years since the recession, it has only returned to 84 percent of its pre-recession level, making the SBA’s role in helping small businesses secure vital financing even more important. All of this progress, Contreras-Sweet noted, occurred while their program operated at zero-subsidy, with no direct cost to taxpayers.

“To summarize: A record year in small business lending, a record year in investment, a record year in contracting, with zero taxpayer subsidy needed to sustain our momentum. This is the context in which today’s hearing takes place,” she said.

For years, the SBA’s well-established program has been paramount in ensuring that qualified small businesses, especially franchise businesses, are able to survive and increase their production in a delicate economy. In 2014 alone, SBA lending programs were used in the financing of nearly 30,000 new franchised units and guaranteed an estimated $6 billion in loans to new and prospective franchisees, and Contreras-Sweet says that those numbers will only increase in the years to come.

“These figures show that SBA loan programs are a vital lifeline to franchises and other small businesses as the small business lending market continues its recovery,” she said. “I’ve been on the job at SBA for 20 months, and I’m proud of the progress we have made in that time. Of course, there is always room to improve, and I look forward to continuing to work with all of you, your staffs, the Inspector General and the GAO to make the reforms necessary to deliver the services that small businesses seek as well as the systems and controls that taxpayers expect and deserve.”

Click here to read the full transcript.