The Bush "bailout bill" has drawn some criticism from small business enthusiasts, namely the American Small Business League (ASBL) unsurprisingly.

"Not only does this bill not contain any provisions that specifically help small business, it has provisions that could actually harm middle class firms. The language in Section 107 of the bill is totally inconsistent with the stated objectives of this legislation," says ASBL President Lloyd Chapman.

The part Chapman is talking about says, "For the purposes of this Act, the Secretary may waive specific provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation upon a determination that urgent and compelling circumstances make compliance with such provisions contrary to the public interest."

"It is clearly not necessary to suspend federal acquisition law to bail out Wall Street and the financial industry," says Chapman. "I am very concerned the Bush Administration included that language to give them the authority to further dismantle federal programs designed to assist small businesses. We got into this situation because of a lack of proper regulation and now the same people that are responsible for these staggering economic problems want to be able to ignore any sections of federal contracting law they deem necessary. George Bush has proven time-after-time that he cannot be trusted especially when it comes to small business issues."

The ASBL has been very vocal about its criticism over the federal government and the way it handles small business contracts, often calling attention to "schemes" aimed at giving said contracts to large firms. They note that President Bush has cut the Small Business Administration's (SBA) budget in half, and cut funding and oversight for every program assisting small businesses, including woman, minority and veteran-owned firms.
 
The ASBL has not limited its criticism to the Republican Party though. Democrats have been just as fair game. The ASBL has also called out Senator John Kerry for "backing federal legislation to give small business contracts to venture capital firms and billionaires."