WASHINGTON, DC— House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) issued the following statement after the House passed the Small Business Program Extension and Reform Act (H.R. 2608) by voice-vote.

“As we continue to work toward a full and complete reauthorization of the SBA, the Small Business Program Extension and Reform Act will ensure that these vital programs are still available to provide the assistance small business owners need to create jobs.

“This bill also supports our objective of removing barriers for job creation by restoring fiscal discipline and efficiency to the federal government by eliminating wasteful programs and saving taxpayer money. The bill eliminates several duplicative, little used, or unused SBA programs, some of which have not been utilized since 1977.”

The Small Business Program Extension and Reform Act (H.R. 2608):

• Would provide for an additional temporary extension of programs (under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958) for five months, until the end of 2011.
• Eliminates 10 wasteful, dormant, or duplicative programs, including the Central European Enterprise Development Program, which was designed to help small businesses as countries transitioned from socialist to capitalist economies, and the Pollution Control Guarantee Program, which was initiated in 1976 to provide SBA-backed bonds for the purchase of pollution control equipment to retrofit existing factories. The program has not offered a single pollution control guarantee since the early 1980’s. 
• While the bill does not rescind any already appropriated funds, it prevents any further appropriations from going to the SBA to administer these programs by eliminating their authorizations permanently.

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