Petaluma, CA, November 6, 2006/ -- According to Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League, if the Democrats don't recover at least one house of Congress on November 7th, the Bush Administration will be free to move forward with plans to close the Small Business Administration (SBA) and end all federal programs for small, women-owned, minority-owned, and disabled veteran-owned firms.

Since the Reagan Administration, Congressional Republicans have tried to close the SBA and eliminate federal small business contracting programs, but Democrats have always been able to prevent it. With public opinion turning against Republicans, the Bush Administration may see its last opportunity to finish off the SBA and divert over $100 billion in small business contracts per year to giant defense contractors.

Since Bush and Republicans took control in 2000:

• The SBA Administrator was demoted from a cabinet-level position.
• SBA's budget has been cut about 60%, with three more years of cuts projected. Administration insiders have stated that Bush intends to "starve the SBA to death".
• The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce was forced to sue the Bush Administration after former SBA Administrator Hector Barreto stated the Administration had "no intention" of implementing the legislated 5% women-owned procurement goal. This requirement has still not been implemented.
• The Veteran's Office of Small Business Contracting, the department within the SBA designed to help disabled veterans form and start their own businesses, has been dismantled.
• The Civil Rights Commission, stacked with Republican appointees, reported in 2005 that the government is doing too much business with minorities and needs to cut back.
• The Bush Administration has announced that it has met its goal for small business contracting for the last few years, even calling it a "Victory for America" in 2004. However, there have been 13 federal investigations by agencies including the SBA Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office and the SBA's Office of Advocacy, that have found that billions of dollars in contracts Congress earmarked for small business actually wound up in the coffers of firms including Lockheed, Boeing, Bechtel, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Rolls Royce. A recent story on ABC News showed over 2,500 large businesses on the government's database of small business contractors. Bush officials have attempted to explain this by calling it "miscoding".

"Bush intends to close the SBA, roll it into the Commerce Department and zero out its budget," states Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League. "Defense contractors that are the biggest contributors to the Republican National Committee want to get their hands on the $100 billion in contracting opportunities that the Bush Administration claims is going to small firms. If Democrats don't take over Congress, Bush will close the SBA and end all federal programs for small businesses before the end of his term. Republican small business owners must realize that they need to quit listening to what George Bush is saying, and start paying attention to what he is doing - before it's too late to save the SBA, or themselves."