The Washington Post is reporting that Republican lawmakers have proposed a plan to consolidate the Small Business Administration. But as officials have made clear, consolidate doesn?t mean close. Then why does the news seem to be causing a brouhaha among small business leaders?
As reported in the piece, Lloyd Chapman, head of the American Small Business League, a lobbying organization, has warned that merging the department with others would ?close the only tiny agency in government to assist the 28 million small businesses that are responsible for over 90 percent of net new jobs in America.? In a recent e-mail to On Small Business, Chapman suggested that the consolidation would dismantle important small-business programs, and he has likened the current proposal to a plan set forth three decades ago by President Ronald Reagan to save money by closing down the department.
Officials spearheading the consolidation have made the case that doing so would lead to ?reduced spending and better policies to help entrepreneurs.?
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For President Obama?s part, he, in 2012, envisioned a merge of several agencies to include the Export-Import Bank, the Commerce Department, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Trade and Development Agency.
Read more at The Washington Post.
