Obama Continues to Ignore Small Business Contracting Abuses
Press Release
Obama Continues to Ignore Small Business Contracting Abuses
February 4, 2010
February 4, 2010
February 3, 2010
The most recent data released by the federal government indicates Fortune 500 firms and many of the largest firms in Europe are currently receiving billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts. The latest data released by the Obama Administration indicates Textron Inc. was the largest recipient of federal small business contracts. Textron is a Fortune 500 firm with 43,000 employees and annual sales over $14 billion. Textron received over $775 million in federal small business contracts in a single year.
TARP has failed, national unemployment is over 10 percent and no journalist has ever asked President Obama why his administration continues to give billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to Fortune 500 firms.
The Small Business Act requires a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all federal prime contracts be awarded to small businesses. According to Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Karen Mills, roughly $150 billion a year in federal contracts should be awarded to small businesses. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/business/smallbusiness/30mills.html?_r=2
According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau, small businesses are responsible for over 97 percent of all net new jobs in America. A recent report from the Kauffman Foundation found that since 1980 nearly all net new jobs in America have come from companies that are less than five-years-old.
The 23 percent federal small business contracting goal represents the single largest federal program ever established to create jobs and boost America's middle class economy.
Since 2003, over a dozen federal investigations have found billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts have been diverted to Fortune 500 firms and thousands of the largest companies around the world.
In Report 5-15, the SBA Office of Inspector General (IG) referred to the problem as, "One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today." https://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf For the last five consecutive years, the SBA IG has reported the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses as the #1 management challenge facing the agency.
In February of 2008, President Obama recognized the magnitude of this problem by stating, "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
To date, President Obama has refused to adopt any policy or legislation to honor that campaign promise; as a result the rampant abuses have been allowed to continue. No journalist has ever asked President Obama why he refused to honor that campaign promise.
America is in the midst of its worst economic disaster in 80-years. Small businesses are responsible for virtually 100 percent of all net new jobs and President Obama is allowing the vast majority of federal small business contracts, which by law should be going to middle class firms, to be diverted to corporate giants around the world.
No program proposed by President Obama or Congress would direct more money to the middle class or create as many new jobs as simply ending the diversion of billions of dollars a year in federal small business contracts to corporate giants.
Over the last year, President Obama has continued to read well-written speeches about the importance of small businesses, his focus on jobs and the economy. While the words are fresh on his tongue, President Obama hypocritically presides over the blatant corruption of the single largest federal program ever enacted to direct federal infrastructure spending to the middle class and create jobs. Not one journalist has ever asked President Obama or any member of his administration why these abuses have been allowed to continue.
February 2, 2010