Press Release

Governor Romney Has One Last Chance to Expose Obama's Abysmal Track Record for the Middle Class

October 9, 3600

Everybody knows job creation is the number one issue in this election. Based upon U.S. Census Bureau data, we know small businesses create more than 90 percent of all net new jobs. We know the largest federal program to direct federal infrastructure spending to the middle class and America's 28 million small businesses is the Small Business Act. That law directs that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of federal contract dollars be spent with small businesses.

Unfortunately, since 2003, a series of federal investigations have found a major portion of federal small business funds have been diverted to Fortune 1000 firms in the U.S. and some of the biggest companies in the world. Some of the firms that the Obama administration has given small business contracts include Boeing, AT&T, Harris Corporation, Motorola, John Deere, L-3 Communications, Raytheon, Apple, Oracle, IBM, General Electric and Hewlett-Packard.

Romney should focus on the fact that, not only has President Obama killed millions of U.S. middle class jobs by diverting small business contracts to large business, but he is also shipping jobs overseas by giving small business dollars to foreign-owned companies. Some of the foreign-owned companies the Obama administration has given U.S. small business contracts include Rolls-Royce, British Aerospace and Finmeccanica—an Italian defense giant with 72,000 employees. His administration even gave more than $375 million in small business contracts to Rosoboronexport, an arms dealer owned by the Russian government.

President Obama recognized the magnitude of the problem in 2008 when he stated, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." But the number of small business contracts awarded to large companies has actually gone up. The most recent federal contracting data indicates that 72 of the top 100 federal small business contractors are actually large businesses.

Every year President Obama has been in office, the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) has named the diversion of federal small business contracts to large corporations as a top management challenge at the SBA. Despite that fact, the Obama administration has refused to back legislation or take any action to end the rampant abuses against American small businesses and the middle class.

So if Governor Romney wants to be president, he has one last chance to challenge President Obama's abysmal record for small business and deliver a knockout blow that President Obama will not be able to recover from. He needs to simply ask President Obama why he is giving small business contracts to the largest companies in the world during the worst economic downturn in 80 years.

If Governor Romney fails to bring this up, it is doubtful that he'll have a chance at being elected president, and I think the only logical conclusion we can draw is that he intends to continue the Obama administration's policy of diverting federal small business contracts to large businesses.

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Press Release

SBA's Jobs Tour More Smoke and Mirrors

October 9, 8400

Petaluma, Calif. – On Monday, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) held the first two meetings of its recently announced, “Small Business Jobs Act Tour.” Small business advocates have complained that the SBA’s meetings are just smoke and mirrors, and will have little impact on America’s 27 million small businesses.

“The SBA’s jobs act tour is nothing more than a PR stunt designed to distract the American people from the Obama Administration’s lack of action.  As I have always said, we need to stop listening to what they say and start paying attention to what they are doing.  Right now they are allowing the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants to continue,” American Small Business League (ASBL) President Lloyd Chapman said.

Since 2003, a series of federal investigations have uncovered billions of dollars a year in federal small business contracts actually flowing into the hands of Fortune 500 corporations and other clearly large businesses.  In Report 5-15, the SBA Office of Inspector General (SBA IG) referred to the issue as, “One of the most important challenges facing the Small Business Administration and the entire Federal government today.” During 2010, the SBA IG named the issue as the agency’s top management challenge for the sixth consecutive year. (https://www.asbl.com/documents/05-15.pdf)

The ASBL has estimated that every year more than $200 billion in federal small business contracts are diverted to corporate giants. (www.asbl.com/documents/ASBL_2009_dataanalysis.pdf)  

Nearly a year ago, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) estimated that increasing contracts to small business by 1 percent would create more than 100,000 new jobs.  Addressing the diversion of small business contracts to large companies would raise the percentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses by a staggering 18 percent.
(http://sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=bc065833-dafc-46c5-9e6f-21209a532de2)

In February of 2008, President Barack Obama promised to end the abuse. Despite, thousands of business closures and countless lost jobs, the Obama Administration has failed to honor its promise, and end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants.
(http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php)

“If the Obama Administration would quit giving federal small business funds to Fortune 500 firms, it would redirect more infrastructure spending to the middle class, and create more jobs than anything they have proposed to date.  That would be a real jobs bill.” Chapman said. “I’m predicting that before he is out of office, President Obama is going to try to change the definition of a small business from independently owned to include companies owned and operated by some of the wealthiest venture capitalists in the world.”

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Press Release

Obama Small Business Conference Should Take 'Reasonable' Steps to Reduce Unemployment

October 9, 4800

Petaluma, Calif. – Since President Barack Obama has said that we need to take all reasonable steps to stimulate the economy and create new jobs, the American Small Business League (ASBL) would like to propose these very reasonable steps to stimulate the economy and cut unemployment: http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/12/white-house-to-host-jobs-forum-in-december/  

- Do not change the definition of a small business from being "independently owned" to include firms that are owned and controlled by venture capitalists.  This would divert even more small business contracts away from legitimate small businesses and into the hands of wealthy investors.

- Do not attempt to close the Small Business Administration (SBA) by combining it with the U.S. Department of Commerce or any other federal agency. 

- Honor your campaign promise to, "end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."  The best way to do this would be to back H.R. 2568, the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act.  The Obama Administration is currently awarding billions of dollars a month in federal small business contracts to corporate giants around the world. (e.g. Textron, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Rolls Royce, and Thales) By stopping this problem, H.R. 2568, would redirect more current federal infrastructure spending to small businesses in the middle class than any other proposal to date. http://www.barackobama.com/2008/02/26/the_american_small_business_le.php       

- Implement the 5 percent set-aside goal for women owned firms like you promised during the campaign. http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/SmallBusinessFINAL.pdf       

- Restore the SBA's budget and staffing like you promised during the campaign.
The current SBA staffing levels are at their lowest levels in 30 years. http://obama.3cdn.net/d14eb1b3649c4d6745_0evzmv02w.pdf      

-  Eliminate the SBA fabricated exclusionary rules that reduce contacting opportunities for small businesses.

-  Abolish the Comprehensive Test Program, which allows contractors to avoid penalties for non-compliance and avoid submitting reports that are used to track compliance with their small business sub-contracting goals.

-  Enforce the "Liquidated Damages" clause in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which created a penalty for prime contractor non-compliance with its small business sub-contracting plans.  This law has never been enforced.

- Aggressively prosecute fraud and misrepresentation in federal small business programs.
Misrepresenting the size of a firm in order to illegally receive federal contracts and subcontracts is a felony with penalties of up to 10 years in prison, a fine up to $500,000, cancellation of all contracts and debarment from selling to the government.  

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Please click here to watch a short clip about the ASBL's concerns regarding the Obama Administration's small business conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JvT7Btd_9s  

Press Release

Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith Claims Loophole to Give Billions to His Top Campaign Contributors was 'Unintended'

October 9, 400