A bigger Voice for Small Business

Obama Stimulus Plan Fails Middle Class

by | Nov 9, 2009 | Press Release

Press Release

Obama Stimulus Plan Fails Middle Class

November 9, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. - On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent in the month of October, its highest point in 26 years.

Small business advocates like the American Small Business League (ASBL) believe the unemployment rate continues to soar because the Obama Administration's economic stimulus plan has virtually ignored middle class firms.

Firms with 20 or fewer employees are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200708/data.html To date the Obama Administration has awarded less than one percent of all funds allocated under the stimulus to those firms. 

In February of 2008, President Obama 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 The statement is based on a series of federal investigations, which have found that every year billions of dollars in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest companies around the world. https://www.asbl.com/documentlibrary.html 

The ASBL estimates that since President Obama took office over $100 billion in federal contracts were diverted to corporate giants around the world.

Despite pledging to address these issues, the Obama Administration has consistently refused to adopt any legislation or policy to solve the problem.  Consequently, Fortune 500 firms like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls Royce, and French giant Thales Communications continue to receive federal small business contracts. The most recent data released by the Obama Administration lists Fortune 500 corporation, Textron Inc. as the largest recipient of federal small business contracts.  Textron has 43,000 employees.

"If President Obama really wants to stimulate our nation's economy and create new jobs, he needs to help pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said. "H.R. 2568 offers the most efficient and cost effective method anyone has proposed to redirect federal infrastructure spending to small businesses.  It would also solve the 10-year-old contracting scandal the Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General referred to as, 'one of the most important challenges facing the small business administration and the entire federal government today.' "

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Contact:
Christopher Gunn
Communications Director
American Small Business League
cgunn@asbl.com
(707) 789-9575



Details of Obama Small Business Conference Remain a Mystery

by | Nov 4, 2009 | Press Release

Press Release

Details of Obama Small Business Conference Remain a Mystery

November 4, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. – Two weeks after President Barack Obama announced a special conference to discuss increasing the flow of credit to small businesses, no information about the date, time, location or attendees has been made available.

The American Small Business League (ASBL) is skeptical about the true purpose of the conference.  The ASBL predicts that the actual purpose of the meeting will be to try and change the long standing federal definition of a small business as "independently owned" to include firms owned by wealthy venture capitalists that backed President Obama's campaign.

"If this conference does take place, I doubt there will be one person in the room like myself who has a documentable track record of fighting for legitimate small businesses.  I'm sure there will be sham small business groups that are actually backed by the Fortune 500 corporations that are currently receiving most federal small business contracts.  There will also be a significant number of venture capitalists that are trying to highjack federal small business programs," ASBL President Lloyd Chapman said.

The ASBL is concerned that not only will the conference not help small businesses, but a proposal may even come out of the conference to close the SBA under the guise of bolstering the agency by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce.  In the past, combining small agencies with the Commerce Department has been a technique used in Washington by previous administrations to quietly close agencies.  The Minority Business Development Agency was essentially closed in this way.

If President Obama wants to help small businesses he needs to make good on his campaign promise 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 The best way to do that is for him to pass H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contacting Act of 2009.  This bill would redirect over $100 billion a year in current federal infrastructure spending to the middle class firms where nearly all new jobs are created. https://www.asbl.com/documents/hr2568.pdf  

According to the most recent data released by the Obama Administration billions of dollars in federal small business contracts have been diverted to firms like: Textron, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace (BAE), Rolls-Royce and French firm Thales Communications. https://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf  

In February of 2009, Obama officials awarded a $128 million small business contract to, Fortune 500 firm, Bechtel Bettis Inc. https://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf   

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Questions for SBA Administrator Karen Mills from the American Small Business League

by | Nov 2, 2009 | Press Release

Press Release

Questions for SBA Administrator Karen Mills from the American Small Business League

November 2, 2009

Petaluma, Calif. – In February of 2008, President Obama released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."   Every year since 2006, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) has released a report, which listed the agency's #1 management challenge as, "Procurement flaws allow large firms to obtain small business awards and agencies to count contracts performed by large firms towards their small business goals." 
(http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php, http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba/oig_reports_tmc_fy09.pdf) 
 
Since 2003, over 15 federal investigations have found that billions of dollars a year in federal small business contracts are diverted to some of the largest corporations in the world. The most recent statistics released by the Obama Administration indicate that hundreds of Fortune 500 corporations, their subsidiaries and other large businesses were included in the government's fiscal year (FY) 2008 small business contracting data. (https://www.asbl.com/documents/20090825TopSmallBusinessContractors2008.pdf)  
 
Firms that received federal small business contracts included: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, GTSI, L-3 Communications, British Aerospace (BAE), Northrop Grumman, Booz Allen Hamilton, Thales, General Dynamics, 3M, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Rolls-Royce and Dell Computer.
 
Despite the fact that the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations is the SBA's #1 challenge, Administrator Karen Mills has refused to mention the issue or adopt any policies to address it. The American Small Business League (ASBL) believes it is time for someone in the media to question Ms. Mills about the Obama Administration's refusal to address this pressing issue. 
 
- Will the Obama Administration support federal legislation or policy that would allow wealthy venture capitalists to participate in federal small business contracting programs?
 
- Considering the fact that America is in the midst of its worst economic downturn in 80 years, why is the Obama Administration continuing to allow contracts to Fortune 500 firms to be counted as small business awards?
 
- Will any contracts to Fortune 500 corporations and their subsidiaries be included in the government's small business contracting statistics for FY 2009?
 
- Why hasn't the Obama Administration adopted polices or legislation to end the diversion of federal small business contacts to corporate giants?
 
- In February of 2009, the Obama Administration awarded a $128 million contract to Bechtel as a small business, how would you justify that to the millions of small businesses who are struggling to keep their doors open? (https://www.asbl.com/documents/20090806BechtelSB_DOE.pdf) 
 
- Is there any truth to the rumor that the Obama Administration may try to close the SBA by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce?
 
 
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Small Business Agency will pay attorney fees in FOIA case

by | Oct 30, 2009 | ASBL News

News

Small Business Agency will pay attorney fees in FOIA case

By Miranda Fleschert
RCFP
October 30, 2009

The American Small Business League will finally get to collect legal fees from the Department of Justice now that the agency has dropped its appeal of a California federal court's award.

 

The Court of Appeals in San Francisco (9th Cir.) was set to hear the department’s appeal early next year, the league reported in a release.

The suit stemmed from when the Small Business Administration denied the league's request for the names of firms that received small business contracts and the amounts awarded in 2005 and 2006. The SBA claimed it kept no record of the names and that the information was stored at the General Services Administration.

In her ruling in favor of the league, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn H. Patel found "curious" the SBA’s argument that it did not possess its own funding allocation information. Patel ordered the SBA to hand over the records and pay the league's attorney fees in May 2008.

"SBA’s attempt to argue that the information sought by the League is not an “agency record” is the kind of bureaucratic foot-dragging that FOIA — by providing the public with free and open access to government records — was designed to avoid," Patel wrote. 

The SBA turned over the records, but appealed the award of legal fees. The agency planned to argue to the appeals court that the league’s win was not “substantial” enough, since the law requires a requester to have substantially prevailed in order to recoup litigation costs.

Before dropping the appeal, the Justice Department tried to negotiate with the league by offering to pay the preliminary legal fees but not the litigation costs incurred during the appellate process but the offer was declined. Though the most recent case will net the league less than $20,000 in fees, it estimates it has spent at least $100,000 in legal costs on matters involving the SBA.

“We end up filing suit against the government more often than not because they aren’t providing the information or are trying to provide limited information in a roundabout way,” said Christopher Gunn, the league's communications director.

The government’s sudden abandonment of their appeal did not surprise to league President Lloyd Chapman, who said the agency has capitulated in most of the estimated 15 legal battles he has initiated.

“I’ve been suing them for over 20 years, and I only file if I know I’m going to win,” said Chapman, who has never lost a case against the government. “I actually write the FOIA requests with the idea in mind that I will have to sue.”

According to the league's release, the records at issue in the suit revealed that the Bush administration “diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms and dozens of large businesses in Europe and Asia."

The league used the records to estimate that legitimate small businesses lost more than $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts that instead went to corporate giants including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce and Dell Computer, among others.

Source:  http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=11090

Has the death knell been sounded for the SBA?

by | Oct 30, 2009 | ASBL News

News

Has the death knell been sounded for the SBA?

By Doug Caldwell
Central Valley Business Times
October 30, 2009

•  Critic says Obama Administration ready to end it as an independent agency

•  ‘When it comes to delivering for small businesses and banks, he’s a no-show’

The Small business Administration is in its last days, says the president of the American Small Business League, a Petaluma-based organization that has been critical of the SBA’s management.

Lloyd Chapman says while the SBA was under fire during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration, the Barack Obama administration has it in its sights and is likely to merge it into the Commerce Department.

“Obama seems to be worse,” says Mr. Chapman, pointing to promises of support for small business but lack of action. “When it comes to delivering for small businesses and banks, he’s a no-show.”

In this video, Mr. Chapman elaborates:

Mr. Chapman says massive federal spending, which is meant for small business, is instead flowing to some of the world’s largest corporations. “The biggest is Textron, which is a Fortune 500 defense contractor with 43,000 employees and $25 billion sales,” Mr. Chapman says of a recent release of a list of federal contracts with “small” businesses.

The ASBL head says Mr. Obama’s intentions against small business are also seen in his appointment of a former venture capitalist, Karen Mills, to head the SBA.

Earlier this month Mr. Obama proposed increasing the maximum size of existing SBA loans to $5 million and giving smaller banks better access to money from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program to encourage more lending to small business. The nation’s smaller banks – those with less than $1 billion in assets -- could borrow from the program at a lower interest rate if they could show how that would increase their lending to small businesses.

"There’s no question that the steps we’ve taken have improved the overall climate for small business across the country,” Mr. Obama said. “This administration is going to stand behind small businesses. You are our highest priority because we are confident that when you are succeeding, America succeeds."

(Editor’s note: Mr. Chapman responded to CVBT questions in a live interview that was recorded by ASBL, which furnished CVBT the unedited recording.)

Source:  http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=13475