Washington, D.C. –Rep. Heath Shuler voted yesterday to pass the Small Business Administration Short-Term Extension, H.R. 4508, to guarantee that a number of essential programs within the Small Business Administration continue to operate.
Funding for the Small Business Administration (SBA) has been extended by several short-term authorization measures since 2007. The latest authorization was signed into law at the end of October, and was scheduled to expire on January 31. This bill, which passed in the House with a vote of 410-4, authorizes SBA programs through April 30.
“Small businesses are essential to job creation and economic sustainably. With an unemployment rate of 11.2% in North Carolina, we need to invest in businesses with the potential to create jobs to put Americans back to work,” said Shuler, member of the House Committee on Small Business and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Rural Development, Entrepreneurship and Trade within the Small Business Committee.
“Funding the Small Business Administration ensures that our small businesses have access to the resources and programs that have proven effectiveness.”
This bill extends some of the agency’s most valuable efforts such as:
- Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program
- Small Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Program
- Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program
- Paul D. Coverdell Drug-Free Workplace Program
- HUBZone Program
- National Women’s Business Council
Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y) remarked on the House Floor, “For entrepreneurs to fulfill their traditional role as job creators, they need the right tools. [This legislation] will extend programs at the Small Business Administration that help new businesses form and existing firms grow.”
The SBA was created in 1953. With a current business loan portfolio of approximately 220,000 loans worth more than $50 billion, it is the largest single financial backer of U.S. businesses.
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